Verba Docent, Exempla Trahunt
by Puppeteer of Hearts
Summary: [Collaboration with Shark of Jade] "A Preacher all but spouts words in the hopes that they land in the ears of its listeners; A Leader illustrates alongside its fellow comrades, to the very end." [Retelling of Persona 3 Portable with twists and turns at every corner. Expect anything and everything, including a potential change in the rating.]
1. Illusionary Night: Ghostly Eyes

_Time waits for no one_

_not even for you._

_Man's fate is the same,_

_but the journey of a single one is not._

_You have one year until your final decision._

_Choose wisely,_

_and listen closely_

_to the whispers of your heart._

* * *

The faint rattling of the wheels bustling above the train tracks was the only thing Arisato Hamuko could hear through her headphones, while a finger repeatedly tapped on the 'Next' button of her bright red MP3 player, hearing the first few seconds of a song before it was cut off to the next one. The doldrums had long since taken a hold of her head, right up to the very scalp that connected to her bright pink hair that made one typically rub their eyes upon a first sight. As the minutes began to feel like hours to the young lady, the cushioning in her seat felt closer to flat slabs of wood, and her legs felt ramrod stiff.

"_Attention passengers, the next stop is Iwatodai. I repeat, the next stop is Iwatodai."_

Hamuko stood right up upon hearing the announcement through her headphones, feeling a shower of relief wash over body as her bones finally had a chance to move again. Once the train came to a stop and the doors open right up, the young girl finally settled on a song that she wanted to listen to at the moment, and managed to squirm her way through the bustling crowd leaving the train alongside her.

Once she was out on her own in the middle of the train station, and the lyrics in her song started to pick up, a near silent click echoed from the analog clock at the top of the station's gateway.

The time was Midnight.

Not even a millisecond passed before all of the lights dimmed away, like the brightness on a lamp slowly disappearing until it was only darkness.

It was then that the light from the moon pierced through the clouds above, and shone through the ceiling windows. When it did, a sickly shade of emerald covered all of the ground that could be seen, which was no more than a few feet. Nobody could be seen, as there only stood an array of coffins in this time, and the music playing from Hamuko's MP3 came to a stop.

Hamuko swallowed her own saliva; this wasn't her first time enduring this time of night, but no amount of experience could make this moment any easier for her. She took her first step on the now virescent floor, and walked through the train station. All the while, she kept her eyes glued to the ground in order to avoid looking into the never-ending darkness at the end of the station, for no matter how many glass windows were in the ceiling that allowed the moonlight to come through, the shroud never went away; it only stayed there, waiting for Hamuko to venture even deeper into it.

* * *

Out of the train station, and into the city of Iwatodai. Or for Hamuko right now, out of the frying pan, and into the fire, if not the very belly of the beast. For each step Hamuko took on the Persian green pavement, the closer her legs felt like they were filled with jelly instead of bones. Not because they were worn out or anything of the sort in that sense, but because they just felt that way to her right now. She couldn't run like this without sensing a worry that she'd trip and fall over, which would prove to be a problem to the teenage girl, given how many times she kept looking behind her. You'd probably think that the dread of something being behind you would vanish right away upon the first or second look, but for Hamuko, that couldn't be further from the truth. Each time she looked back into the nighttime murkiness, she saw nothing, and turned her head back. But after just the first look, when Hamuko turned her head forwards again, something seemed to suddenly rattle within her mind.

The sound of footsteps.

With each step that her own foot made, the sound of another seemed to echo in her mind. As it continued, the footsteps seemed to grow louder, and sound as though they were getting closer as well. When that happened, it wasn't before long that Hamuko felt a sort of _presence_ behind her, one that knew exactly what it planned to do with her, encompass her, and then…!

Hamuko instantly turned back to look behind her, dripping a cold sweat from her brow. As she started softly panting in correlation to her heartbeat rising, she once again saw the darkness behind her, and nothing more.

She inhaled, and caught a grasp of her breath once again before continuing down her way. A shake of her head did no good to rid the dread eating away at the back of her mind, even if the only thing in front of her was a paper describing all of the details of her new living arrangements for her high school years: the Iwatodai Dorm.

Once she was done looking it over, she looked back up, and much to her belief, there the dormitory stood in front of her. As the young woman did so, she then picked up the pace in her walk to get to the building faster, like a rabbit dashing back into its hole after hearing a hungry wolf on the prowl. When she was several feet away, she started speed walking. Upon only being a few feet away, she began jogging, and when she came right to the front steps at the door, she sprinted right in front of it with her dorm key already in hand (A small gift that came with the paper in the mail that announced of a new place for her to stay) and bolted right in, ending her stroll outside with a sigh of relief.

Even with the moon's viridescent glow on everything, the dorm looked to be rather quaint so far; a set of couches and chairs to Hamuko's right formed a cozy looking rectangle around a small coffee table, and behind it was a small wall with glass windows that separated off into the kitchen. To her right was no more than a countertop with several types of paperwork and the like strung about it.

As well as a pair of bright blue that opened up, piercing through the dimness.

"Ah!" Hamuko let out and flinched back upon such a sight, not expecting it.

The very azure eyes that startled her closed up happily as a giddy giggle filled the air now, and only could did a body and a face be seen, showing what appeared to be a young man, the same age as Hamuko, with hair as black as the very darkness Hamuko averted her eyes from, wearing nothing more than a set of pajamas decorated in a simple set of black and white stripes.

"It looks like the pink rabbit is late for her date." The boy uttered in an airy tone of voice, and a smile that complemented it. As he placed an elbow on the counter top and rested his head on his hand, his eyes opened back up as well, their bizarre glow piercing through the green gloom like the bright stars in the black night sky.

"You don't have to remind me Pharos." Hamuko responded with a pout, her feeling of alarm having fading away once she saw who it was now. In reality, she had already know Pharos for many years at this point, so he was far from the shocking plot twist of a magnum opus.

Pharos chuckled once again. "Well now, at least your sense of spunk is still in tact." He answered back to her, and soon lowered underneath the countertop until he couldn't be seen.

Hamuko already knew that he wasn't gone however, and she was soon proven right as a hand rested on her shoulder. Pharos stepped out from behind her, as if he disappeared and then reappeared faster than someone could blink.

"It's also worth informing you," Pharos said as he walked up from beside her to in front her, and gestured a single hand over to the counter once again. When the teenage girl looked back at it, she saw a single piece of paper on it, resting inside a red binder, along with a pen in a stand right beside it. It possessed the bold letter of 'Contract' as a title, with an ocean of letters and words in small print underneath it, and at the very end rested a single line, intended for a signature.

"Don't fret your head off now, the details contain the usual stuff; claiming responsibility for your decisions, not making a mess of the place, signing your life away to someone because they deliberately wanted you to just sign it without reading the small print~"

Hamuko swatted at him for the last bit, feeling only the air against her palm, as Pharos seemed to vanish once again. Letting out a small grumble that riddled within her throat, she walked up to the countertop, took a hold of the pen next to the paper, and signed her name at the bottom of the page in bold black ink. Her last name first, and her first second, in the typical Japanese formality.

"Good; it looks like that's settled then." Pharos' voice appeared one again, as did the rest of him on the opposite side of the counter, taking a hold of the binder now that it was signed, closing it shut and holding it in his right hand. "But remember, you can't escape this fate now. Neither can you just plug your ears and close your eyes."

"Are you mocking me because I wear headphones?" Was Hamuko's only response to him with a small glare from her bright red eyes.

"Maybe~" Pharos chuckled back, twisting his hand as the red binder now seemed to vanish into no more than thin air. "But it's an important piece of advice nonetheless. After all…" As the darkness began to cover Pharos now, he took a hold of the very bottom white stripe on his sleeve. Standing in the opaque shade, the white stripe was no longer a pattern on his shirt, but a ribbon floating in the dusk, all on it's own.

"…this is where it begins." With those words, Pharos pulled on the ribbon, letting it unwind freely as his body lost a form, and evanesced into the gloaming. The ribbon itself flowed in the stale air of this dormitory, before it vanished with a simple twirl.

Hamuko slowly sighed to her, still feeling the disquiet that came with this time of night etch away at the back of her very skull.

"Who's there!?" Shouted a voice that emanated from somewhere in the room.

Such a concerned shout made Hamuko immediately turn her head back to see where it came from. When she did, she saw a woman no older than herself, wearing a bright pink cardigan, a skirt across her waist, and most noticeably, a pair of petrified eyes.

"Yukari!" Said another sudden shout, one that sounded like it came from behind the young woman who was just addressed to as 'Yukari'. Afterwards, as if in perfect timing, the sickly wash of green over the world dissipated as the lights all turned back on, and illuminated the whole room. Hamuko's MP3 player also came back, with a muffle of music playing through her headphones as they rested around her neck.

Once the room was perfectly lit up, the previously titled Yukari went from frozen with fear to wincing in pain as her ear was suddenly being pulled on by an older looking woman right beside her, having her long locks of pale blonde hair down, and wearing quite the well-made yellow dress as well.

"What have I told you about scaring guests like that?" She scolded at the girl clad in pink, complete with a pout. "I know you're new here, but that doesn't excuse any acts of rudeness young lady!"

While Yukari let out an array of 'ow's from the ear pull, Hamuko's eyebrow went right up at such a sight. How exactly did the atmosphere change so quickly?

"Mrs. Aragaki, you can release Takeba now." A brand new and highly refined sounding voice said from behind the two ladies, causing the older one to release the other one who was mainly known as Yukari so far. The latter of who began rubbing her ear with a groan.

Upon which another woman briskly walked out from between them, sporting a white blouse accompanied by the same type of skirt the girl in pink was wearing, with a red ribbon right in the center of her collar. It wasn't the reddest thing on her though, for her long hair was a vibrant shade of scarlet that fell down into several curls. Her lips were also quite a ruby red as well, that of which soon curled up into a smirk. "It looks like the new student has finally arrived."

"O-oh!" Hamuko finally understood just what might've been going on, and nodded back to the three women in front of her. "Yes. My name is Arisato Hamuko. Sorry about coming here so la-woah!"

Hamuko's words were quickly interrupted by a passionate shaking of her hand, courtesy of the older woman who nearly yanked the cartilage right off of Yukari's head.

"Pleasure to meet you as well Hamuko-san!" She said with the peppiest of voices. When she let go of Hamuko's hand, her entire arm still continued to shake at least somewhat. "Feel free to just call me by my first name of Kimiko, alright sweetie?"

"Uh, sure thing Kimiko-san…" Hamuko responded, resisting the urge to ask for a bit more personal space just from seeing Kimiko's gigantic grin.

"Relax Arisato, Kimiko's just awfully friendly." The redhead stated with a chuckle underneath her words. "My name's Kirijo Mitsuru." She said before gesturing to the girl in the pink cardigan right next to her. "And the woman who startled you earlier is a fellow junior, Takeba Yukari."

"Hey!" Yukari pouted herself from Mitsuru's description.

Hamuko already felt a tad uneasy around Yukari right now, if only for the not so smooth greeting, but at the very least she didn't appear to be petrified of her right now.

"Regardless, it's getting late, so you should get your rest Arisato." Mitsuru said to the underclassmen to break some of the awkward tension between her and Yukari. She then tucked a hand into the skirt pocket, and pulled out a silver key, which she then placed into Hamuko's hand. "That's the key to your room in the dorm. Make sure you don't lose it now." The almost passive aggressive tone in her voice made Hamuko sure that she meant it. "Your room is the last one on the third floor. Your luggage already arrived, so it should all be in there."

"Got it." Hamuko responded before showing a faint smile. "Thank you senpai."

"It's my pleasure." Mitsuru smiled back, and then turned to Yukari. "Takeba, escort Arisato to her room, alright? It'll help make up for your slip up tonight."

Yukari groaned in a way that was difficult not to laugh at, but nodded all the same.

"Let's get going then, okay?" Yukari asked her new pink-haired dorm mate, showing a softer expression now. Hamuko nodded back at her as well, feeling a small sense of relief to see Yukari lighten up a touch already. Going up the stairs, she looked back to see Mitsuru smiling, and Kimiko happily waving to her.

Hamuko waved back before ascending up the steps further, going right past the second floor of dorm rooms, and stopping on the third. Once they did, it was only a simple stroll for them to reach the third door on the third door, appearing right where the hallway had ended.

"Here we are." Yukari uttered upon reaching their destination. "Shouldn't be too tough to remember since it's at the very end eh?" She said with a small laugh as well, as though it was intended to be a joke.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Hamuko chuckled back, glad to see that the situation with her and Yukari finally lightened up now.

"…Although…" Yukari's smile began to fade away right after it appeared. "…you wouldn't mind if I asked you something, would you Hamuko-san?"

"No, I wouldn't." Hamuko stated ever so simply. "Go on."

"Well…" Yukari swallowed a bit, as her eyes darted around a bit in a state of pondering. "Was everything okay on your way here from the station?"

Hamuko almost felt her lips freeze, unsure about how exactly to respond to that. The experience Hamuko had walked through once get got off of the train was anything but okay, but was it worth trying to specify to her? Especially when she remembered just how petrified Yukari looked from before?

"You mean aside from seeing you freak out at the sight of me?" Hamuko finally responded, unable to resist cracking a grin from her own answer.

Yukari instantly frowned. "Never mind, you're fine." She stated before pulling out her own dorm key from her pocket, and retreated into her room. Hilariously enough, it was right next to Hamuko's room. Hamuko couldn't help but snicker a bit, and soon put the key into her own door, hearing it unlock with a soft click, and opening it right up.

It was then and there that the sheer exhaustion of today caught up with the girl, making her eyelids feel as heavy as lead. Not even bothering to turn a light on in her room, Hamuko went right for the bed, pulling the covers over her casual clothes, and resting her head on the pillow. It didn't take long for her eyes to close, allowing her to drift off into a deep sleep.

* * *

"…a..uko-san?" An odd mutter seemed to say, coming from who knows where.

"Mrr…" Hamuko practically purred out, curled up into a cozy ball coated with the warmest of blankets right now.

"…u…ko-san? Are you awake yet?" The bizarre muttering started to sound clearer now, for more words could be heard much more easily from it, as could the knocking sound that accompanied it.

"…..Eehh?" Hamuko practically croaked out, finally opening up her eyes, even if they were just a pair of slits at the moment. Once she saw that the sunlight from outside went right through her eyelids, she raised a weary hand to rub the sand out of her eyes, and stretched out her entire body, like a cat waking up from a twenty-hour nap.

"…Hello?" She muttered while running a hand through her tangled hair, feeling the oily sensation that came with morning hair before taking a shower.

"It's me, Yukari." The muttering said, becoming a voice that came from behind the door, just like the knocking that followed. "Are you ready to go to school now?"

"School?" Hamuko tilted her head a bit, wondering what exactly she meant until the cobwebs finally cleared from her mind, and her eyes went from small slits to wide open. Using those eyes to look down at her attire, she saw the set of simple casual wear that she fell asleep in as well, and a Gekkoukan Girl's Uniform on her biggest suitcase, still in the plastic packaging.

Hamuko swallowed hard, putting all of the pieces together to reach one horrifying conclusion…

* * *

_(Outside the door…)_

"Hamuko-san…" Yukari said with an increasingly annoyed tone in her voice, like a parent trying to get their child out of bed, as she stood right outside the new girl's door, resting her knuckle on it. "Mitsuru-senpai is not gonna be happy unless you-"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Cue Yukari bolting right back, covering her ears with both hands as sentence immediately being cut off by one of the most deafening of shrieks she had ever heard in her life so far. Once Yukari's ears stopped ringing, she then lowered her hands back down now, to which the one thing she could hear was the utter chaos and worried muttering of Hamuko inside the room.

It was right then and there that Yukari's head lost its weight, banging right onto the wooden door.

"This is gonna be a long day…" Yukari groaned out as her head slowly slid down the door.

* * *

The monorail sailed right out of the station, and onto the bridge, bustling right over its tracks without so much as a bump affecting the passengers inside. Two of said passengers being, lo and behold, Yukari and Hamuko.

"Okay then Hamuko-san..." Yukari started explaining to the girl that made her a fretting mess this morning, while holding up a single finger like a teacher would, all while sporting an irate smile across her face. "First we do when we get back to the dorm: Unpack your alarm clock. Got it?"

"Mhmm!" Hamuko nodded furiously, keeping her mouth closed as she worked her jaw muscles to the limit trying to scarf down a slice of toast, having that to qualify as her breakfast.

"Okay, good." Yukari responded, putting up a more cheery smile now that their first setback had a plan to be taken care of. As such, she now turned her attention to the windows instead.

Seeing Yukari suddenly go silent riddled the curiosity in Hamuko's cranium, causing her to look out one of the windows as well. Once she did, both her eyes and her mouth opened in sheer awe.

As the monorail raced over the bridge, the sight of the entire port stretching out into the ocean came into the view. Sunlight sparkled like diamonds as it shone down on the water, and even the very high school the two girls were going to was hardly any bigger than their palm from this view.

"Gorgeous isn't it?" Yukari commented, much to Hamuko's surprise. When the pink-haired girl looked back to the pink _clad _girl, she saw her with a calming smile across her face. "It always feels like you're gliding right over the sea…"

Hamuko couldn't help but smile back.

"It really does…" She answered before looking right out the window once again, watching the rays of morning light dance upon the sea's surface for most of the monorail ride now.

* * *

Now that the monorail ride had ended, the two teenage girls now walked to the high school, greeting any other passerby student with a 'hello'. As they passed by colossal buildings of stone and steel, the ground in front of them was soon seen to be some of the greenest of grass, covered in small flurries of the pink petals from blooming cherry blossoms.

"Well, here we are." Yukari stated, causing Hamuko to look back at her, and that was when she saw it; an enormous school building stood right behind where Yukari was, surrounded by all of the plants that previously left Hamuko awestruck. Not only was the building tall, but it was also long, stretching out several acres on each side for who knows how many classrooms within its walls.

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School." "Hope you like it Hamuko-san!"

A quick snicker crawled out of Hamuko's mouth from that. "You make it sound like you're try to advertise for the place Yukari."

"Hah, please, that's Mitsuru-senpai's job." Yukari said with a smirk, surprising Hamuko with such brash talk of her senpai like that. Once she chuckled a bit at seeing the new girl's reaction, Yukari continued through the school doors with Hamuko in tow.

"Alright, if you just take a left beyond the lockers, you'll be right at the faculty office." Yukari stated, pointing down to the left hallway. "If you walk straight down, you'll enter the main lobby where the classroom assignments are hung up." After that bit of school ground instructing, Yukari turned right back to Hamuko on just one heel. "Need help with anything else then?"

"Nah, I think I'll manage." Hamuko replied with an accompanying shake of her head.

"Ah, that's good." Yukari smiled back. "Make sure you check in with the Faculty Office first though, okay?" With that, the teenage girl in the cardigan walked along her own way to the Main Lobby. Once Hamuko noticed that, she decided to head for the Faculty Office on her own.

And hopefully stay out of harm's way with one teacher yelling the least describable kind of nonsense about the ancient Edo Period of swords and samurai.

* * *

The sets of stares and invisible gasps from teachers stopped surprising Hamuko by now, all thanks to her bright pink hair color. If she received at least fifty yen for every teacher that asked why she'd dye her hair such an unnatural shade, even though it actually WAS natural, she'd be able to purchase at least five private apartments for herself.

Regardless, Hamuko entered the faculty office on her own, ignoring the expected looks of shock from most of the staff members there. It was in that very office that she saw one such teacher, a woman in a light brown work jacket, whose eyes seemed to perk up with inquiry for once, instead of surprise.

"Would you happen to be the new transfer student?" The teacher asked out in a surprisingly reserved tone of voice, but not the apathetic type either.

"Yup, that's me." Hamuko responded with a lively nod. "Arisato Hamuko. Pleasure to meet you Miss." She said with a pleasant smile, and even a small bow for formality. It seemed to work too, for she saw the teacher's face light right up in reaction to her behavior.

"Well, aren't you polite?" The teacher said with a comforting grin, raising a hand up and resting the tips of her fingers on her chin. "You could be a great example to some of the other girls in this school."

Hamuko almost started beaming at her from such a compliment. She was about to thank her for it, but what came out of her mouth instead was an 'Yeow!' from feeling her ponytail get pulled on from behind.

"Great example?" Said a rather rugged male voice, coming from a middle-aged man whose faces was etched with several wrinkles, most of which came from the hard frown on his face. "With hair as blindingly pink as this?" He uttered with sheer disgust as he twirled a few of her hairs. "I'm aware that hair bleaching is a popular fad among teenagers these days, but an amount like this could make someone go bald."

"That's because my hair's natural Gramps." Hamuko spat her words back at the male teacher, pulling her hair out of his hand as her cheeks began to puff up. That soon changed to a sly smirk however, once Hamuko saw the look of sheer offense stretched across the man's face.

"If you saw my grandmother's lavender locks of hair, you'd probably keel over and die right on the spot." She stated soon afterwards, making her grin grow as her comment successfully applied cold water to the burned area. "And that's not even mentioning my grandpapa's sapphire hair."

The male teacher stomped away while emitting a growl of revulsion, while Hamuko was left letting out a set of small giggles from her quick victory right then and there.

"Um…My apologies about that Hamuko." The female teacher said, sounding quite embarrassed by what just happened. "Mr. Edoka tends to get under the skin of a few students."

"Heh, I can tell." Hamuko answered, chuckling to herself before showing a more affectionate smile. "Thanks for being considerate though Sensei." Hamuko could tell she did at least something right when she saw the teacher let out a laugh from calling her 'Sensei'.

"Please, just call me Ms. Toriumi." The teacher now known as Ms. Toriumi stated. "And we should head to the gymnasium before the ceremony starts."

Hamuko nodded, and headed out of the faculty office. From there, she took a right to the main lobby and eventually found her way to the school's gym.

* * *

(_12:00 PM, read the clock on her MP3 player.)_

Good thing Hamuko brought it and her headphones along too; when the ceremony started, she felt herself nearly blanking out from boredom at "As you begin the school year…"

Just remembering the principal's monotonous voice made her eyelids start drooping again, but the low growl of her stomach perked them right back up. Sitting down at a desk in her assigned classroom, she reached a hand down into her book bag, and pulled out a bento box in a plastic wrap, fresh from the convenience store.

Right as she placed it on her desk, a young male student popped right up from her right side, sporting one of the widest of grins.

"Ah!" Hamuko let out a quick yelp of surprise, flinching right back as her bento box fell onto the desk rather loudly. The male student's chuckling immediately followed her reaction.

"Haha, you look like a deer in headlights." He said in-between his laughs. Upon a second look at the young man, he wore an indigo baseball cap on his head, right over his buzz cut hairstyle. He also wore a violet popped collar shirt underneath his school uniform, along with a silver pendant around his neck and a belt with a stylized pattern around his waist.

Hamuko's mild look of shock soon became an irate pout.

"It's rude to startle people y'know." She replied as she crossed both of her arms, still in her seat.

Such a response wiped the wide smirk right from the other student's face, and even made him put up both of his arms as if he was backing away from something.

"Woah, calm down! I just wanted to be friendly is all." He answered back. Once Hamuko's pout began to disappear from seeing such a response, he began to smile again, and raised his hat up a bit to show his friendly face. "Name's Iori Junpei. Nice to meet ya."

Once Hamuko saw a less intrusive side of the student she now knew as Junpei, she stood up and gave him a small smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, when you're not popping outta nowhere."

"Heh, no prob." Junpei chuckled, regaining some of his smirk once again while rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Figured I'd make sure the new kid wasn't freaking out on her first day, since I was in the same position back in Eighth Grade."

"If by 'make sure', you mean attempt to hit on like you do with all the other girls?" A feminine voice, one that sounded exactly like Yukari, asked, making Junpei jolt just as Hamuko previously did. When he stepped back a bit and turned around, both him and Hamuko saw that it was in fact the pink cardigan-wearing girl herself.

"What? I was just bein' friendly Yuka-tan!" Junpei immediately reacted, with his mouth agape from Yukari's perverse suggestion.

"Huh… If you say so, Stupei." Yukari remarked with a not-so-subtle touch of spite in her voice.

Hamuko all the while, felt like she had found herself in the middle of hot water right now. As such, she found herself uncertain about what to say until Yukari turned back to her with a much friendlier demeanor.

"Anyway, pretty surprising that we ended up in the same homeroom huh Hamuko?" Yukari asked. Hamuko would've given more of an answer than just a simple nod, but she found herself being distracted by Junpei nettling around from behind her spurting out questions like "What about me?" and "C'mon can't I be part of the fun?"

"Stupei, mind yourself will you?" Yukari responded as she whipped right back behind her, and took a step closer to Junpei so she could glare at him while only a few centimeters away from his face. "And since I have things to cover in archery club, you better not pull anything funny, you got that Junpei?" After a poke on his chest from a single index finger, Yukari walked right past him, and soon out of the classroom entirely, leaving behind only a rather stupefied pink-haired transfer student and capped junior.

"What is she, your nanny?" Junpei commented after she left.

"Y'know, I don't blame you for thinking that right now…" Hamuko responded, trying to hide her giggle from Junpei's admittedly fitting remark.

Junpei immediately smiled upon noticing that one of his jokes actually did make Hamuko laugh, but it soon went away as he seemed to have a more honest expression now.

"But, for real, I seriously didn't come over to hit on you or anything gross like that." He said with a more reserved tone of voice. "I came over 'cause…well, I wanted to be a friend who could help you out, ya know?" He shrugged both of his shoulders as he finished his statement.

Hamuko smiled gently at hearing Junpei's honest sense of amiability.

"That's awfully sweet of you Junpei-kun." She answered with a nod. "I hope to be a good friend to you too though, so don't get any 'White Knight' ideas in your head." The girl gave him a sly wink as she said that.

"Ah, Madam! You wound me so!" Junpei reacted in the single hammiest way possible, complete with him leaning back and placing a hand on his forehead like he was about to faint.

Hamuko broke into laughter right on the spot, not even caring about the looks of confusion she and Junpei got from some of the other students in the room.

She had a pretty good feeling that this school year was off to a fun start.

* * *

At the Iwatodai Dorm, Mitsuru sprucely sat on one of the leather chairs around the coffee table, reading a book that appeared to be written in French as opposed to the typical Japanese kanji. Hamuko and Yukari hadn't returned yet, so the first floor of the dorm carried a strong air of silence, as though it had been abandoned.

Until the sound of footsteps on the hard wood staircase slowly echoed down to the first level, and then softened as they reached the carpet floor. When Mitsuru looked up, she saw that it was a young man who appeared to be around her age, dressed in a red sweater vest over his Gekkoukan School uniform. But what was most striking about the other high school student was his shaggy mop of silver hair atop his head, along with a pair of eyes that had the exact same shade.

"I'm going out for a bit." He said in a rather composed tone to his voice, already standing just a few steps away from the door when the sound of footsteps died away. "You remember what the newspaper said, right Mitsuru?"

Mitsuru nodded. "I do." With a swift movement of her hand, she closed the book she was reading. "Several normal people were suddenly afflicted with the spreading phenomena, Apathy Syndrome." She stated, turning her head to the windows and looking out at the dusk outside. "However, most of the reporters have claimed it's related to high stress and anxiety."

A low chuckle came from the other student, his face now brimming with a look of confidence.

"Yeah, but stress alone doesn't turn someone into a walking vegetable." He answered back as one of his gloved hands curled into a fist. "Which means that they're out there tryin' to grab a midnight snack again." A smirk grew from the corners of his lips, and he took another step towards the door.

"Akihiko, will you be okay on your own?" Mitsuru asked out to him right before he could raise a hand to place on the door's handle. When she did, the student known as Akihiko turned his head back, his grin only growing even more.

"Did you forget who you're talking to Mitsuru?" Akihiko asked with one hand on his waist. When he was responded with a sharp glare from the scarlet-haired classmate, he whipped his line of sight right back to the door, laughing to himself as he did so. "Don't worry though, I'll be fine."

It was then and there that the front door opened before Akihiko could even place his hand on it. From it, Hamuko and Yukari walked in, conversing about the school day, until Hamuko slightly bumped into something. When she stepped back a bit to see what it was, she saw the silver-haired upperclassman, and felt her body freeze from her rudeness.

Akihiko however, just shrugged upon noticing how nervous the girl seemed from accidentally bumping into him, and walked out of the door that the girls just opened.

Both Hamuko and Yukari had next to no idea how to react to what just happened.

"Lemme guess," A new, and especially gruff voice said as it came from the staircase. "Aki scared someone off aga-Ow!" As it was interrupted by what sounded like a quick smack, Hamuko looked to the staircase and saw not only Kimiko, but also another young man that almost towered over her from his height. If that didn't make him look imposing enough, he also wore a maroon pea coat that looked big enough to hide a weapon inside it, as well as a beanie that cast a shadow over his steel gray eyes, and worsening the glare that they gave off.

"Shinjiro, it's not nice to talk about your brother like that, remember?" Kimiko scolded the taller male with a pout as the two reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah yeah, I got it Ma." The young man referred to as Shinjiro stated with a small chuckle underneath his words. Afterwards, his gaze focused right onto Hamuko. "Anyway, new girl."

"Huh?" Hamuko swallowed hard. He looked just like the kinda guy who'd ask someone to come with them down a dark hallway, to which he'd give said hallway a new paint job of blood red. "Uh, yes?"

"Whaddya want for dinner?" Shinjiro asked. Upon hearing someone like him ask such a question, Hamuko's brain suddenly felt as though it froze up and needed to reboot. "Ma let me cook for tonight, so I figured I'd make something you like." He said as well with even a small smile that of which made Kimiko's pout fade away.

"Well, I guess an omelet with some fried rice sounds nice right now." Hamuko answered quickly; it was far from the most delectable dish she could've requested, but it was just the first thing on her still-recovering mind.

Kimiko giggled a bit once she saw the young man show some formality. "Well, at least it's good that you're showing some manners now Shinji." She responded while patting his shoulder with a gentle hand, even though her words had something of a teasing tone to them.

Not that Shinjiro seemed to mind; all he answered to back to her was a 'tch' before going into the kitchen and delving right into the utensils and ingredients. Once he did, Kimiko chuckled to herself once again before walking up to Hamuko and placing a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry Hamuko-san, did my sons startle you?" She asked in a tender voice while carefully patting her shoulder, as though she was a child who had just gotten hurt.

"Wait… your _sons_?" Hamuko asked with unsaturated confusion in her voice and facial expression. "Do you mean…"

"Yes sirrie." Kimiko chuckled as she answered, and then looked back at Shinjiro as he continued his cooking preparations. "The barrel of laughs who asked you about dinner is Shinjiro. Don't be scared of him though. I can assure you that his bark's a lot worse than his bite." She said with a giggle growing in her voice.

"Ma, you know I can still hear you, right?" Shinjiro replied as only turned his head back a fraction, for one of his hands held a cutting knife while the other held a few fresh carrots.

"Why yes I do Shinji~ Why do you ask?" Kimiko cheerfully called out to her son even as he was slicing and dicing away in the kitchen. At that point, even Hamuko herself couldn't help but laugh as the older woman's laughter became contagious.

"I'll take your advice then Kimiko-san." Hamuko remarked with the glee being heard in her voice, and finally feeling a sense of comfort in knowing that she'll be living in the dorm.

Which wasn't hurt by Shinjiro's ability to make the meanest omelet and fried rice this side of Mt. Fuji.

* * *

After an enjoyable dinner and a not so enjoyable unpacking, Hamuko went right to her bed once again, and went out like a light. Just at the right time too, for she just managed to miss the moment that the world became shrouded in shadows, which has kept her awake for several nights in the past already. In this time, all of the electronics suddenly shut down as well, just as they did last night. Ranging from miniscule MP3 players and alarm clocks, to the lighting system of the entire dormitory, leaving it in darkness with the exception of the pale emerald light that shone down from the moon.

One electronic that didn't shut off however, was a small, near unnoticeable camera located within the very top corner of Hamuko's room.

As its lens zoomed in and out on Hamuko's sleeping figure, the video feed it was receiving was instantly displayed upon a gigantic computer screen within a highly technological room. Within that room, was no other, then Mitsuru, Yukari, Shinjiro, and Kimiko.

"Um.. Mitsuru?" Kimiko asked out, as her tone of voice was much more vacant compared to her usual bubbly and cheerful tone around the teens. "Hasn't Tenshi found a less…well…invasive way to observe everyone in the dorm yet?"

Mitsuru let out a sigh upon hearing Kimiko's question. "I'm afraid not Mrs. Aragaki." Her answer was brief and sullen. "She's doing her best, but so far this is the most effective manner we have of surveying every person within the dormitory and seeing their conditions." As Mitsuru finished her sentence, she looked back up at the screen, seeing Hamuko rest, as the only movement that came from her was the soft rise and fall of her chest. "Speaking of, she hasn't transmogrified into a coffin, so this proves our theory correct so far."

Everyone else was silent with the exception of a small noise; be it a 'tch' from Shinjiro, a soft worrisome sigh from Yukari, or a muffle of uncertainty from Kimiko.

"…That means she has the potential then, doesn't it?" Kimiko commented before her head lowered a bit to the floor. "If she didn't have it, then she would've…" The woman shuddered just from the very thought of what happened to most people that were awake during this hidden hour.

Shinjiro put a hand of comfort on her mother's shoulder, noticing how she became riddled with tension.

"Relax Ma." He said in a low and quiet voice. "We'll probably find out in a few more days." With that, he shoved both of his hands into his coat pockets, and closed his eyes.

"Shinjiro's right." Mitsuru replied with an affirmative nod. She looked back up at the screen, seeing that the underclassman with a hair color of pale rose was still sleeping ever so soundly.

It was like she might've well been inside a coffin in this time of night; at least then, she would've been truly safe.

* * *

The faint hum of an elevator ascending invaded Hamuko's ears, along with an sapphire glow that seemed to crawl through her eyelids.

When she opened her eyes up, she was greeted with the sight of a large round table that was planted right in the middle of an enormous elevator that appeared to still be going upwards. She also found herself sitting in a small chair on one side of the table, and on the other was a royal blue couch, which hosted an elderly man with bulging eyes, and the longest nose she had ever seen on anyone. To the left of the couch stood a young man who appeared similar to a flight attendant at first glance. He held a rather thick book in one arm, and gave off a hauntingly calm smile on his face, all the while his eyes gave off a freakishly yellow tinge that stood out within the cobalt light within this place.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." The man uttered eerily, sending a slight shiver through Hamuko's body as he spoke. "My name is Igor." He raised an arm in front of himself and gave a small bow after addressing his name. "A true delight to make your acquaintance."

"…Okay, what the heck did Shinjiro-senpai put in that omelet?" Hamuko said not to Igor, but to herself as she rubbed her temples with her palms.

Igor chuckled lowly upon such a response. "Well, you aren't wrong, for we have summoned you within the depths of your dreams." Igor soon gestured a gloved hand over to the 'flight attendant' standing next to him. "This is Theodore. He is a resident of this place, like myself, and a most trustworthy assistant."

"You're too kind Master Igor." Theodore replied, his thin smirk growing ever so slightly from the compliment. Afterwards, he looked right at Hamuko as she was seated on the opposite side, and gave a calm nod. "Anyway, pleased to meet you Milady."

Hamuko's eyebrow rose right up from the usage of the term 'Milady'. What, did his vocabulary come from a medieval dictionary?

Another chuckle rose from Igor before she could say anything though.

"It's been years since we've had a guest." He uttered, as his grin only grew even further. "Only those with a contract are allowed to enter after all."

"A contract?" Hamuko asked out to herself. She seemed a tad bewildered at first from the mention of such a contract, but her eyes soon opened in realization, upon remembering her short talk with Pharos from when she first entered the dorm. "Wait…Do you mean…?" As her question wavered off before she could finish asking it, Igor's smirk grew again, and with a snap of his long and bony fingers, the same red binder from that very night appeared on the table.

"This should look familiar to you then." Igor commented on as the binder opened up, showing a single piece of paper labeled as a Contract, with Hamuko's signature at the bottom. "Your ability is a truly unique one, a unique one indeed…" Igor muttered while slowly stroking his chin. "…And you will need my assistance in order to unlock your true potential." With his remark, both the contract and the binder appeared to dissolve away into specks of bright blue light, and in its place was now a single card that showed a picture of a man wandering away with nothing but the clothes on his back, followed by a canine companion. "But this also means that you must abide by your contract, and remember the responsibilities of your choices."

"Wait, responsibilities? Choices?" Hamuko's head was filling with questions by the second now, but before she could ask just one of them, a sudden glow came from the pocket within her skirt. She tucked one hand into her pocket, and soon pulled out a small midnight blue key.

"Till we meet again, farewell~" Igor said with a nod of his head. Upon which Hamuko's vision of this bizarre room slowly to fade away into darkness, and her consciousness started to slip away from her.

* * *

_**Tori's Notes: ***kind of lurks here while munching on cookies* Oh hi. Sorry, I've been doing my coursework, so I didn't see you people there. _

_Anyway! This wonderful thing here is a collaboration story I'm doing with Shark of_ _Jade._ _ We're both in agreement that there's a lot of things Persona 3 kind of cocked up major league, so we decided to try and put our noggins together to see what we could come up with to make things different. Magnus Ragnar, the author of "A Fool Name Fortune: Reshuffled" is also on board as a sort of idea parrot; he gave us plenty of ideas, but has sworn off writing for Persona 3 once he gets Reshuffled done. _

_First and most primarily of which is punting the canon October Fourth and its contrived bullshit out the goddamn window, as you can see from Shinjiro being present. We'll still have the event, yes, but it'll be ... well, it **won't be detrimental to the plot **to be blunt about it. _

_Plus yes, Shinji's mom (and dad, he's just not shown yet) are alive because fuck P3's apparent "no happy parent-child relationships allowed" clause; this isn't goddamn "Oliver Twists"! Brownie points to those of you who can figure out who she's based on. _

_And now for some words from Sharkie._

**_Shark's Notes: _**_Hiya! SharkofJade here, writer of this first chapter and working on this Persona 3 collaboration with Puppeteer of Hearts. In order to answer any questions,_

_-Yes Hamuko has pink hair from her early concept art. This is due to Starwing's preference for the hair color, as well as a few important relatives of Hamuko. (That of whom will be explained when the time is right)._

_-No, Pharos is not as young as he is in canon now, for he now appears to be around Hamuko's age. That didn't stop me from having fun with him though *laugh*_

_-Yes, Aki and Shinjiro are official stepbrothers in this story. I mean, c'mon, are you really that surprised? *brickd*_

_Anyway, that's all from me for now, and Chapter 2 is gonna be written by the lovely Puppeteer herself. Hope you enjoy this story so far!_


	2. Full Moon Shines on Obsidian Scales

The next two days of school passed with little incident, much to Hamuko's relief. The teacher who often rattled on about the Edo period had actually _complimented _her hair color on the third day, saying that the cherry blossom-like color would have inspired many samurai to fight for her in their heyday, and had about killed her with embarrassment if someone hadn't brought up Ancient Egypt to distract him from continuing on. Junpei had even pulled her away as a bonus, dragging her up to the roof and sitting down for them to eat lunch.

"Y'know, Hamu-tan, I was worried you were gonna pass out." He commented after a few minutes of silence, letting Hamuko calm down. Making a questioning noise while she ate some of her lunch, the pink-haired girl glanced at him. "Well, your face was pretty red when Kaz finally distracted Ono-sensei."

"… How red?" Hamuko asked after swallowing, curious.

"Like, so red your eyes looked pink." Junpei elaborated, arching an eyebrow. "I was half afraid you were either going to pass out or your head would catch fire."

"Spontaneous combustion could ruin _anyone's _day." Hamuko muttered after a moment, making the capped teen laugh. Laughing with him, she turned ruby eyes up to the sky, spotting a faint glimpse of the full moon. "Wow … you normally don't see the full moon this early in the day." Gripping at a thin chain around her neck, she swallowed a bit, nervous for some reason.

"Yeah … it's pretty big for this time of the year." Junpei nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "Hope it doesn't mean anything bad …"

"Same." Hamuko nodded, feeling a soft warmth underneath her hand. "…? My pendant …?" Confused, she reached down and tugged on the thin silver chain around her neck, pulling out a round pendant, a strange, reddish stone wrapped in the silver wire. Junpei looked, arching an eyebrow.

"What's that?" He asked, curious.

"Honestly? I don't fully know myself." Hamuko frowned, sighing. "It's just … I found it the night I lost my parents and older brother as a kid. Grandpa Satoshi and Grandma Sakura said I wouldn't let go of it, so they made it into a necklace for me." Junpei gave a nod in understanding. "But … it's unusually warm …"

"Then don't wear it down your shirt?" the boy suggested with a shrug, finishing off his drink as they heard the warning bell ring. "Ugggh … back to the grind …" He muttered, making Hamuko giggle as she stood up with him.

"Try not to fall asleep in class again, Junpei-kun." She teased, darting downstairs before Junpei could retort beyond a whine of 'hey!'

* * *

Her pendant continued to keep up that steady warmth against her collarbone, and Hamuko began to worry that something was wrong with it. The pendant itself had unnerved her grandparents, and her grandfather Satoshi had wrapped it in silver due to some sort of purification powers the metal apparently had. Her grandfather was odd, so she didn't question it, not wanting to upset him.

Kimiko had greeted her with a warm smile when she returned, the woman halfway through making dinner herself. Mitsuru and Shinjiro were there as well, the latter also in the male Gekkoukan uniform. As far as Hamuko could see, the only difference he wore from the standard was a turtleneck beneath the blazer, and she thought she had glimpsed a yellow ribbon instead of the black one most male students wore. She didn't get a chance to ask, as the two senpai called her over to discuss the layout of the city with her.

By the time eleven pm had rolled around, the pink-haired girl was drowsy, well-fed, and ready to do nothing but sleep. Changing into her pajamas, she yelped when the pendant hit her bare collarbone. "What the hell?!" she hissed, picking up the red stone by the chain. "…? Wha … why are you glowing?" She whispered, fear in her voice as she put her pajamas on. The stone didn't respond, but the faint glow didn't vanish as she laid down. Determined to ignore it, Hamuko covered herself with her duvet, falling asleep in a few moments.

When the time paradox rolled around once again, the group from Hamuko's second night at the dorm was once again in the room with the monitor screen. Yukari sighed and shifted a bit as she glanced out the picture windows on one side, hazel eyes worried as she fiddled with something around her right wrist. The full moon outside was bright and large, and even with the otherwise absurd amount of shadows about, the brunet was certain she could read a book.

"Still stable … no memory loss, nor insomnia or hypersomnia." Mitsuru's comment caught her attention, making Yukari turn. Hamuko was still unaffected by the change in the world, sleeping soundly. The redheaded senior was frowning though, her manicured nails drumming on her arm. "This is incredibly unusual. Most of those who are awake in the Dark Hour experience some sort of discomfort from it …"

"No luck getting a hold of your ma?" Shinjiro asked after a moment, something that looked like a polearm in one hand. Was he sharpening the blade, Yukari wondered. Mitsuru shook her head.

"She's still in France on business, but she should be back next week." A sigh left the redhead. "I had hoped it would be sooner; she'd have more knowledge on what to do in this situation than anyone else."

"Don't stress yourself, Mitsuru." Kimiko's voice softened as she reached out, patting Mitsuru's arm. "You're doing your best, and besides; the Dark Hour's confusing enough. Asking everyone to react to it the same way would be like asking Shinji not to be a grump in the mornings. It's not likely to happen."

"Love you too, Ma." Shinjiro's deadpan comment made his mother whirl around with a pout, and Yukari was certain she would have responded with her own dose of sarcasm if a loud beeping noise hadn't chosen that exact moment to ring in the still air. Jumping a foot in the air, Misturu reached over and hit a button on the console before her.

"Mitsuru here. What's going on, Akihiko?" She called out, and a few seconds of static answered her for a few seconds before the male senior's voice came over the system.

_[Wha … what the hell is this thing!?] _From what Yukari could hear, the third senior was running from something. [_I … I found it near the train station, and it … ! HOLY SHIT!] _The next few seconds were accompanied by the sound of something exploding nearby, a loud noise that was somewhere between a shout and a yelp of pain, and what was almost a roar. _[Ow, shit!] _Akihiko's voice came on a few seconds later. [_It's throwing fire at me!] _

A second roaring sound echoed for a second, and Akihiko let out another shout. _[Crap … I … it got me that time … my ribs!_] He hissed, and it was a few seconds before he started running again. _[Sorry guys, but I'm heading back; this thing's not something I can take on solo!] _

"What the hell Aki!" Shinjiro shouted, standing up. "Th' fuck are you thinking, bringing it back here?! Especially after it got your ribs!?"

_[If I could stop for a second to explain, I would!] _Akihiko shot back before the line went dead. Muttering swears under her breath, Mitsuru tugged on one sleeve, revealing a strange wrist watch.

"We have forty-five minutes until the Dark Hour ends." She commented, frowning. "Akihiko should be back here soon, but still, we have Arisato here …" Frowning, she crossed her arms for a moment before nodding to Kimiko. "Mrs. Aragaki, take cover and hide in here; we'll need you to keep the cameras operating in case something else tries to attack. Shinjiro and I will go down there to take care of Akihiko and whatever he's dragging home this time."

"Right." Kimiko nodded before looking at the display. "But what about-?" As she spoke, Hamuko seemed to wake with a start, grabbing at something around her neck in alarm. "!? She's up!" Mitsuru spun, swore upon seeing the monitor, and turned back to Yukari.

"Takeba, go and intercept Arisato before something happens to her!" Pulling something out of her skirt pocket, she tossed it at Yukari, who caught it. It was a second watch, similar to the one the redhead herself wore. "Give her that; I normally would be against this, but we're in a bad situation."

"R-right!" Nodding, Yukari darted off, taking a toweringly tall bow and a quiver full of arrows from Shinjiro as the brunet male offered them to her. Kimiko had settled herself at the computer, pulling on a headset as Mitsuru darted over to where Shinjiro stood, taking a rapier from the brunet as he hefted a battle axe himself. Giving a nod at the adult before darting out the door, the two seniors heard the front door crash open.

"He's paying for damages if he broke the door again …" Mitsuru muttered under her breath as the two seniors headed downstairs. To their relief, the silver-haired teen hadn't damaged anything, and was leaning against the door with one hand pressed against the right side of his ribs.

Looking up when the other two arrived, Akihiko gave them a wolfish grin, standing upright. "I'll probably need a couple sessions from Dia after all of this, but I can fight for now." He spoke, gripping his ribs again. Shinjiro looked at him with a frown. "Seriously, Shinji, I'll be okay."

"If you're not I'm gonna help Ma tan your hide for getting your ass hurt again." The brunet shot back, only to lurch backwards as the dorm building around them shook. "The fuck!?"

"I wasn't kidding, Shinji; I have no clue what the hell this thing is, but it's big." Akihiko frowned as the dorm shook again. Mitsuru frowned and drew her rapier as another tremor wracked the building.

"Whatever it is, we should stop it here." She commanded, a blue aura beginning to swirl around her. "The underclassmen aren't prepared for this sort of thing." The two males with her nodded as a third shake came, something heavy bashing against the oak doors as she spoke in an attempt to ram its way inside.

* * *

Hamuko yelped as the building shook, the red stone she wore around her neck flashing a blinding light with each tremor. "This is not an earthquake …" She thought, glancing out the window; the full moon shone with an uncanny brightness against almost impenetrable darkness, and she thought she could see something moving outside. Panic taking over her, she dove under her bed for the long, thin box she kept beneath it.

Drawing it out, she unsnapped the lid with a sigh of relief as the sight of polished metal caught the glow from her pendant. "Thank goodness Grandpapa Ryuu was so paranoid about me bringing this …!" She thought, making a mental note to thank her other grandfather at some point as she drew out a live naginata, the steel blade and teak wood polished to a near mirror shine.

Standing up, Hamuko let out a yelp and whirled as her door was slammed open, stopping herself as she found she was pointing the blade at an incredibly panicked Yukari. "Where the hell were you keeping a polearm!?" The brunet yelled, backpedalling. Hamuko nodded to her bed before taking in the sight of the brunet; she was still in her cardigan and uniform skirt, but her left arm now boasted a scarlet armband with something written on it in English.

Before she could ask what it was, Hamuko looked out the window as something blocked the moonlight. Not pausing, she reached out and yanked Yukari towards her as something broke the window, the sound of jaws snapping where the brunet girl had been mere seconds ago. Reacting on instinct, Hamuko lashed out with the naginata, scoring a blow over a golden eye that fixed on them.

A screech later told her the attack was effective, and it gave her and Yukari time to focus on what was in front of them. "Is that … a dragon …?" Yukari whispered, terror in her voice before she shook the stupor off, grabbing Hamuko's arm again and dragging her out of the room, ducking beneath the black shape that Hamuko had wounded. "Come on, we need to get out of here …!"

[_Yukari-chan! What just happened?!] _Hamuko leapt a fraction when she heard Kimiko's voice from somewhere. Yukari jerked and raised her wrist up, revealing a watch, talking into it as she dragged Hamuko downstairs.

"A Shadow tried to break into Hamuko-san's room! We got lucky and got away; I'm taking her to the back door now!" She shouted back into the watch, reaching the second floor landing.

[_That's no good! Whatever is here, it's wrapped around the building.] _The older woman's voice was strained. _[The two of you need to head up to the roof!] _

"W-what do you-?" Yukari's question was cut off as a stronger tremor shook the building, and the sound of something below them crashing to the floor made the brunet girl pale. "Oh no … What's …?" Hamuko, worried and not wanting to wait around to see what was going on downstairs, turned around and began to drag Yukari back upstairs, cursing the way the shaking building almost made her topple over once or twice.

Reaching the door that lead up to the roof, she shouldered it open, nearly tripping over onto the chilly concrete. Yukari managed to maintain her balance, and somehow managed to keep the other girl on her feet. Judging by the bow she carried across her back, Hamuko wagered the other girl was a lot stronger than she initially seemed. Yukari locked the door with a relieved sigh, leaning against it for a moment.

"We … we should be safe for the moment." She said, pulling out the extra watch and handing it over to Hamuko. "Here … they told me to give this to you, in case you needed it." Taking it, Hamuko looked it over, confused; the watch face was glowing a soft turquoise color, a bright 24.24 staring her in the face as she strapped it onto her right wrist. Yukari gave a nod before blinking, staring at Hamuko's neck. "What's that ..?" She asked, pointing to the gem.

About to answer, Hamuko froze when the lighting around them dimmed. The sound of something large and heavy landing on the roof behind them shook out her paralysis, and she turned, both hands gripping her naginata as the red stone flashed bright scarlet again, and a feeling of panic began to slip into Hamuko's hands. Next to her, Yukari froze, eyes shrinking in fear as the two girls registered what had landed in front of them.

It was a dragon.

The body was black, a flash of blue in the center of the chest revealing itself as a mask with the Roman numeral 'I' carved into it. Wings that seemed almost too small for it were folded across its back, and as Hamuko looked it over, she spotted _seven _heads on the beast, two of them replacing hands as they crept towards the two girls.

"Wh … what the hell…?" The pink-haired girl whispered, pointing her naginata at them.

"I … I don't know!" Yukari replied, drawing her bow and stringing it before Hamuko could register it. "I … I've never heard of a Shadow taking on the shape of a dragon."

"Shadow?" Hamuko asked, only to yelp as the dragon head closest to her lunged. Jerking her naginata up, she frowned as she missed, but the action seemed to alarm the head, which backed off a fraction. Turning to Yukari, Hamuko blinked as she saw the brunet girl gripping her watch, a whirlwind flowing around her. "?! Y-yukari-san?" she asked, puzzled and frightened.

"I … I can do this …!" The brunet girl didn't seem to hear her, and both of the dragon heads focused on her as the light began to build. "C-come on!" A faint pillar of wind flared around her as one of the heads got too close, making it squawk and retreat a bit. The other five heads were now interested in what the first two were doing, and as Yukari called up the blue light again, the dragon lunged.

One of the heads managed to ram into Yukari, knocking her bow from her hands and sending her skidding back a few feet with a cry. Letting out a shout herself, Hamuko leveled the naginata, ready to slash through a few heads when the watch around her wrist lit up, a bright blue light washing over her in tandem with her pendant's bright scarlet glow. "!?"

A butterfly had replaced the time on the watch face, and as she looked up, she could see Pharos hovering in front of her, lying on his side. He gave her a sweet smile, nodding. "Don't be afraid." He said, voice gentle as the dragon reared again, having spotted the blue aura coming from Hamuko.

Looking at Pharos, she closed her eyes, letting the hand not holding her naginata clasp onto her pendant as she attempted to calm down.

* * *

In the command room, Mitsuru and Akihiko were busy tending to the silver-haired teen's ribs, while Shinjiro and Kimiko were desperately trying to get the cameras on the roof to respond. "Almost … aha!" Kimiko let out a satisfied noise as she managed to activate them, turning them onto the girls in time to see Yukari knocked aside by the dragon.

"Shit." Shinjiro growled beside her, rubbing at a gash on one of his arms. "The damn thing managed to get up to them in time …!" Not giving anyone else a chance to stop him, he had picked up the battle axe and was out the door again, ignoring Mitsuru's shout at him to wait.

"Hold on!" Kimiko's voice was shocked, and she was standing up to stare at the monitor. Mitsuru and Akihiko looked as well, all three of them blinking when they saw that Hamuko had the bright blue aura around her.

"Is she …?"

* * *

Drawing a deep breath, Hamuko opened her eyes as the main dragon head focused on her, staring into those gold eyes as the blue aura grew brighter.

"Per … so … na!"

With the sound of shattering glass, Hamuko watched as a figure appeared above her, Pharos vanishing from her line of sight. Above her now stood a feminine marionette, long orange hair buffeted in the breeze that seemed to be swirling around them. Gold and silver flashed in the moonlight, offsetting the crimson eyes that blazed from the marionette's white face. An equally red scarf wrapped around her neck, a large, heart-shaped lute strapped to her back.

_"Thou art I, and I am thou._

_I am Eurydice, Maiden of the Lyre…"_

Hamuko shook her head a bit, swearing she could have heard her mother's voice as Eurydice turned to the dragon, which had reared back in shock and confusion. Yukari seemed just as shocked as she watched the scene, but Hamuko was distracted when she felt a flash of pain go through her head. Something felt like it was trying to get out of her skull…! Gripping her head, the pink-haired girl let out a screech as cracks formed over Eurydice's form, a black shape exploding from her mere seconds later.

It was masculine, a white mask that resembled a dragon skull covering its head. White boots and gloves offset the stark black outfit, and a series of coffins chained together served as the creature's cape. A sword that was longer than the girls were tall was strapped to its waist, and it glared up at the dragon's numerous heads before letting out a bellowing roar of its own.

The dragon actually started to recoil, the centermost head letting out a responding roar as it tried to retreat. Not giving it a chance to do so, the male figure charged, drawing a blade faster than Yukari could watch. In a flash of steel, the center head had been removed, making the remaining six heads screech in rage and confusion as the figure diced the head into pieces, the mask fragmenting as it did so.

Not stopping, it darted down and slashed off the arms, using the sword to stick one to the ground while it tore apart the other, which shrieked in rage and pain the entire time. When it was finished with the first arm, it turned on the second, only to vanish before it was done. A roar echoed in the air as it evaporated, Eurydice reappearing above Hamuko as the pink-haired girl stumbled a fraction.

Blinking when she felt someone catch her, Hamuko looked up; Shinjiro had managed to get upstairs, and he was staring at the dragon as the remaining four heads turned to the crippled fifth. "So it seems I got up here when I was needed." Frowning, he watched Hamuko steady herself and pick up her naginata from where she dropped it. "You think you can keep fighting for now?"

"Y – yeah …" Panting, Hamuko turned her head to see Yukari get back up , her bow in hand. "I'm gonna want an explanation after we get rid of this thing." She commented, focusing on the dragon as the crippled head charged with a screech. Yukari was the first to respond, an arrow shooting through the eye socket of the mask and making it halt. Not waiting for it to regain its bearings, Hamuko charged again, brining the naginata down in a sharp overhanded swing, breaking the mask in two.

A roar made her double take, and she yelped as a new head charged at her. a second shatter of glass made her pause long enough to see a black, almost skeletal horse in armor charge, a rider in black and gold armor on its back and clenching a spear in one hand. Jumping back as the new figure brought the spear down in an overhanded swing, she noticed the pale blue aura around it and glanced back at where Shinjiro and Yukari were; like Hamuko has suspected, the blue aura was around the brunet male.

"Hehe, get back here and you have a go, Arisato." Shinjiro grinned as the black rider vanished, Hamuko darting back towards him and Yukari. Seeing the way the pink-haired girl blinked, he nodded at her watch. "You should be able to do it again; just focus and let it – oi!" Cutting himself off as the head he had attacked previously returned, the brunet male hit it with the axe in his hands. "Back off, you pain in the ass!"

Taking the moment to breathe, Hamuko nodded and tried to recall the sensation she had first felt when Eurydice had appeared. To her relief, the blue light kicked up, and she stared at the dragon. 'I just need to figure out how to keep it from attacking for a little bit so we can work out a strategy …' Swallowing as the shattering glass sound that heralded the marionette's arrival, the pink haired girl focus on the dragon as Eurydice seemed to ball up for a moment, the speaker on the center of her chest lighting up.

In the next second, the marionette uncoiled herself, a shockwave of pale blue light firing at the dragon before the sound of metal plates grinding together overlapped with a sound that reminded Hamuko of screaming foxes hit everyone's ears, the dragon reeling back and forth and twitching as if it had been stunned. Shinjiro and Yukari were both looking at her like something was wrong, the brunet girl with her bow drawn back past her ear like she had been preparing to fire.

Nodding at the dragon, Hamuko wiped her brow as she explained, "I figured it would be smartest to try and get a moment to figure out how to kill this thing." Looking at it, she frowned again, "especially since we don't know which head is in control."

"I'm willing to bet the mask in the center is what we need to take care of if we want this thing to drop dead." Shinjiro growled, grey eyes locked on the dragon. "Aki and Mitsuru are coming, so we'll even the playing field a bit when they get up here." At that, he turned to Yukari again. "Takeba; take a deep breath and try again, alright? The dragon's stunned, so it shouldn't be so straining." Nodding after she let the arrow she had knocked fly, striking the mask of one of the four heads, Yukari took a deep breath and grabbed at her wrist watch again.

"C … come on!" She finally shouted, the blue aura swirling and exploding around her as a figure finally formed; it looked like a young woman with wavy hair chained to a throne in the shape of an ox's head, nothing at all like Eurydice or the black horseman the senior had summoned. As it was, the woman extended her formally crossed hands to Hamuko, a green light washing over her and healing some of the scrapes she had gotten from the current battle.

The healing spell came just in time, as the dragon had managed to shake off the paralysis Eurydice's shriek had caused. Letting out a roar, another head lunged in tandem with the door behind them slamming open. Something large and silver flashed in front of Hamuko before she could register what it was, tackling the head and gripping onto it as Mitsuru ran up behind it, rapier drawn. Gripping her naginata as she nodded at the redhead, Hamuko's eyes widened when she registered what was clinging to the dragon's head, tearing it to shreds.

It was a large, silver wolf.

Feeling her jaw drop at the sight – wolves were _extinct _in Japan! – Hamuko shook her head and focused on the dragon again. "Yukari-san, stay in back, okay? We're gonna need you to focus on healing us." Glancing at the other two senpai, she nodded. "We're gonna probably have to take out each of the heads; who wants which one?" She asked.

"I'll take the one next to fuzz-butt." Shinjiro nodded, eyes narrowed. "The idiot should really be careful with his cracked ribs or he's only going to make it worse …!" Not giving Hamuko a chance to ask how he _knew _the wolf, he had charged, axe held high as he let out a shout. Mitsuru just shook her head.

"The one on the far left will be mine, then; my Persona works best with magic, so I'll stand back here and make sure none of the heads manage to reach Takeba." She stated, making Hamuko nod as she dashed forward, naginata held behind her as the middle-left head lowered itself to roar at her. Bringing her naginata forward, the pink-haired girl let herself skid so she was nearly parallel to the ground, ramming her naginata up through the roof of the dragon's mouth to hit the mask from below.

She didn't realize until later that her eardrums had been ruptured from the resulting screech as the head jerked back, the motion and gravity pulling her forward to leave a large gash down the front of the dragon's head. Landing hard on her hands and knees and rolling, she sat there for a few seconds as she watched the head flop about in death throes. The head next to it was being encased in ice, and a glance backwards at Mitsuru showed her summon; an armor-clad woman that almost resembled the ballet dancer found in music boxes, with a rapier in one hand and a main gauche in the other, hovered over her, the rapier pointed at the head.

Getting up and darting over to where the other two were –Yukari tending to her eardrums as she did so – Hamuko managed to turn around in time to watch the armored woman dash forward, thrusting the rapier at the iced-over head. Like she had expected, the action made the ice shatter, taking the second head with it.

A glance at Shinjiro and the large wolf showed their heads already taken care of, the one the wolf had been attacking savaged beyond recognition. From the look of it, the horseman Shinjiro had summoned had driven its lance through the fourth head, allowing the brunet senior to whale on it without fear of retribution, and the pieces of it were now dissolving as the wolf lunged for the mask in the center.

The blue porcelain broke beneath the large creature's weight.

"… That was too easy." Hamuko frowned, gripping her naginata tighter as she watched the body flounder about. "Even for getting lucky that was too easy."

As if agreeing with her, the body fell … exposing a long tail that soon began to undulate and rise towards the roof of its own power, like a black serpent. With the four teenagers and wolf watching, an eighth head revealed itself, five glowing golden eyes – one of them looked like the eye Hamuko herself had gouged out earlier in the night – glaring at them. Another mask rested on its forehead, and it opened a large maw to let out a piercing screech.

"Of all the things I _had _to be right about …" Hamuko groaned, focusing herself as the new head focused on Shinjiro and the wolf, a lump forming in its throat. A few seconds later, a fireball was fired from the mouth, and Hamuko was only certain the only reason Shinjiro wasn't cooked was because the wolf had grabbed him and leaped backwards, growling the whole way.

"Motherfucking shit!" the brunet swore as the two of them managed to regroup. "Fucking conniving piece of half-assed fuckin black jello shit! Of course the main head would hide itself where none of us would think of it! Fuckin' HATE it when these shitstains learn new things!"

"I haven't heard anyone use that colorful of language in years." Mitsuru commented drily, frowning as she focused on the new adversary as well. "Not that I disagree with your frustration one bit." Her eyes watched the head as it began to sway back and forth, letting its five good eyes take in the view of the group on the roof. "We'll have to be careful."

Hamuko frowned, weighing their options. 'Five eyes mean that it's not gonna be easy to distract it … but if the way it was hiding was any clue, it's probably the squishiest head of them all.' She reasoned, noting the damage her single surprise attack had done to it. "So if we can get that head down to our level and all of us just whale on it, we should be able to kill it. The trick will be bringing it down here." The last bit she said aloud without thinking about it, and was shocked to see everyone else nodding at her in agreement.

"Fair assessment, Arisato." Mitsuru gave a curt nod, eyeing the head again. "Penthesileia is weak to fire as well, so having me charge to the front lines wouldn't be wise either …"

The wolf seemed to growl something, the words lost on Hamuko. Shinjiro seemed to understand it, however, because he nodded and turned to Hamuko. "Aki and I think we can bring the head down a bit for the three of us to attack; Mitsuru, stay back and help Takeba get a handle on healing, alright?" Hamuko nodded, staring at the wolf long enough to spot the same armband the rest of the group had around its left foreleg.

Wait, wasn't Aki the name for –

A warning shriek from the dragon cut off the train of thought, and Hamuko yelped before lunging forward in time to dodge a fireball. Mitsuru and Yukari had retreated to a different corner of the roof, and the wolf shot forward, Shinjiro behind it. Skidding to a halt a stone's throw away, the wolf let out a howl as the blue light appeared around it as well, shattering a second later. Above it appeared a man very similar to the horseman Shinjiro summoned, but with noted differences; it was snowy white instead of midnight black, far more fur covered the figure in a sort of mantle, and it seemed to possess a broadsword instead of a right hand. It charged as Hamuko finished taking in the sight, lightning coating the sword as it struck the lower part of the neck.

While the lightning did nothing, the impact from the sword seemed to draw the dragon's attention, as it shrieked and tried to shoot fire at the wolf again. It dodged, darting forward in a zig-zagged pattern as Shinjiro somehow managed to get onto its back. The horseman appeared a second later, spear in hand once more, and it charged forward to hit the neck on the opposite side of the white swordsman.

Drawing closer, Hamuko felt herself calling up Eurydice. The marionette appeared with much more ease than she had the first two times, unhitching her lyre and slamming it into the dragon's face as it tried to ready another blast of fire. It let out a sound that would have been quite comical if the situation wasn't so life-threatening in return, and Hamuko had Eurydice repeat the action twice more, bludgeoning the shape on both sides of the head and the lower jaw to stop the fireball again.

The wolf took her distracting the head as an opportunity, leaping up and clinging to the underside of the neck with its paws, growling and biting at the thing as Shinjiro scrambled onto the dragon proper, trying to weaken the black creature further with axe blows. The dragon responded by flailing, managing to shake the wolf off of it. Yelping as it landed on the concrete, the silver creature let out another howl, the white figure appearing in time to catch Shinjiro as he was knocked loose.

He had, however, managed to drive his axe into the creature's neck and lodged it there. Staring at it, Hamuko smirked, calling up Eurydice once more. The dragon recoiled at the marionette's appearance, clearly expecting it to fly for its head again, and was caught off guard when the feminine figure instead flew behind it to bludgeon her lyre against the axe.

Like Hamuko had hoped, the blade went in deeper, making the dragon shriek and collapse onto the roof. "Everybody hit the mask or face or whatever _now!" _Darting forward, naginata held high, she was relieved to see that Yukari responded first; two arrows soon found new quivers in the three eyes on one side, making the dragon shriek briefly before the rest of the group descended on it, weapons – or in Shinjiro's case, a lead pipe he had picked up from the roof – in hand.

The gigantic ball of violence died down soon after, and Hamuko found herself leaning on her naginata as she watched the porcelain mask shatter, the black mass of dragon beneath it dissolving into the night sky. The battle axe that had been lodged into it fell to the roof with a clang, and she panted before turning around to the others.

"What the hell was tha …" She began, only to feel herself sway and black out.

* * *

Yukari yelped as she watched the other junior pitch forward, sighing in relief as the large wolf moved first, catching the pink-haired girl with its tail. It seemed to notice her fear, because it let out a much softer growl that she assumed was supposed to be comforting. Mitsuru had stepped forward, examining the girl in worry.

"She doesn't appear wounded, but we should still get her to the hospital." The redheaded senior let out a sigh, lifting Hamuko up a fraction. "I don't want to risk any internal injuries getting worse." At this, she frowned, staring at the wolf. "Akihiko, you're coming too; you _know _fighting in that form isn't smart, especially with your ribs injured."

The brunet girl felt her jaw hit the floor. WHAT.

As if in answer, the wolf's ears sheepishly hit its head, and a second later was gone in a flicker of light, the silver-haired senior in its place; he was holding onto his ribs, and if the look he was giving Yukari was any explanation, he hadn't planned on this.

"Sorry, sorry … just wasn't gonna let the dragon eat anyone, y'know?" He panted, wincing a bit as he gripped his side more. "Ow … crap, I think that landing I had made it worse."

"Fuckin hell, Aki!" Shinjiro slapped his forehead in frustration, retrieving his axe. "Ma's gonna _ream _you once you're healed, you know that?" He seemed to have noticed Yukari's look of utter confusion, because he gave the other brunet a weak shrug. "Sorry about not tellin' ya earlier, but it's not exactly an easy topic to ease into, Takeba." He said. "What, were we supposed to randomly go 'by the way Aki's a wolf demon' halfway through dinner or something?"

"… Fair enough …" Yukari grumbled, still giving the seniors an upset look. Giving them an earful over not explaining that would have to wait; she was more worried about her classmate as the group hobbled on down the stairs, Kimiko meeting them at the fourth floor as the world went back to normal.

* * *

The faint sound of someone singing roused Hamuko from unconsciousness with a groan, the pink-haired girl shaking cobwebs out of the space between her ears. "Who let the elephant sit on me?"

"I pity the elephant who tries to sit on you; I imagine that blade of yours is quite sharp." A familiar chuckle made Hamuko blink, her eyes finally adjusting to the blue wash that had greeted her two nights beforehand. Igor and Theodore were still there, watching her with amusement as she shook her head again. "Welcome back, honored guest." Igor continued with a chuckle. "It is always impressive to see a guest so soon after their Persona has awoken."

"Persona?" Hamuko deadpanned. "… If Grandpa Satoshi knew I was going to a freaky dreamland psychiatrist, he's probably be making sure the water here was safe to drink." Igor let out another stream of chuckles at that, Theodore cracking a smile as he fought to maintain his professionalism in place.

"Ah, guests with senses of humor are wonderful indeed." Igor nodded after a moment, pressing the tips of his fingers together as he looked Hamuko over. "But it isn't quite so clear cut; a Persona is a mask, one to hide a person's true self from the outside world. Only those with the Potential can make it manifest, however."

"So basically if you have a sixth sense you can throw a façade of yourself at monsters?"

"You catch on quick." Igor seemed even more amused by Hamuko's continued bluntness. "That would be the easy way to put it, but the nuances are quite subtle; if we weren't on such a tight schedule at the moment, I would go into further detail." Chuckling once more, his large eyes locked onto Hamuko. "You however, my dear, are a rare case. You are in possession of the Wild Card; it is a power that is like the number zero in that it is empty, but at once full of infinite possibilities."

"And dividing by it might end the world as we know it?" Hamuko asked, arching an eyebrow. Theodore lost the battle to look professional, lifting a hand up to laugh behind it. Igor chuckled once more.

"I couldn't answer that; I don't believe anyone has attempted it." He confessed. "Or at least, none who might have potentially attempted it are still alive to say if it is plausible or not. But I digress …" Shaking his head, the small man continued with his speech, "Unlike most who enter the Velvet Room, you are not limited to which Arcana you can summon Personae from, but right now, your power is weak. Aside from Eurydice, whom you cannot fuse due to her being your core self, you are only able to wield four Personae at this time. You must create bonds with those around you in order to strengthen it."

Hamuko resisted the overpowering urge to point out that sounded like the plot of an anime as the American opening for _Bishojou Senshi Sailor Moon_ started going through her head.

The two residents of the Velvet Room seemed oblivious to her current mental state, because Theodore had managed to regain his composure, and had lifted up the large tome he carried under one of his arms. "This, Milady, is the compendium. When you acquire more Personae, come speak to me, and I shall record them in here for you to call upon them at any time."

Nodding to show she understood, Hamuko let out a yawn, making Igor nod. "Ah, I see that time has marched on in the physical realm; I had hoped to fully explain my role in your journey, but it seems that I've used up our time for now." Giving Hamuko a calm smile, the strange man nodded. "Until we meet again, honored guest; I do hope that it will not take too long…"

Hamuko was faintly aware of giving Igor a thumbs up before she passed out once more.

* * *

Coming to once again with a groan, the pink-haired girl refused to open her eyes until she heard birds singing, not wanting to wake up in a stranger place than the Velvet Room again. Muttering swears that her grandfather would blush at, she sat up in the bed she had been placed in, rubbing her head. "The next time someone tells me dragons are easy to kill I'm gonna hit them."

"Well, at least passing out doesn't seem to have affected you too much." The sound of Yukari's voice made Hamuko blink, looking up in confusion; the other girl was sitting nearby, still in her school uniform. She stood up before Hamuko could question her presence, walking over to her with a nervous smile. "Seriously though, I'm glad you're alright; I was really worried when you passed out like that."

"I'm just glad we were able to get rid of the dragon …" Sighing, Hamuko gave the other girl a worried smile. "Are you alright though, Yukari-san? You looked pretty shaken up."

Yukari gave a nervous laugh, looking away. "Y-yeah … I got out of there with only a few scrapes; you made a smart call when you told me to stay back and focus on healing for that fight. I probably would have whiffed all my shots." Shaking her head, Yukari looked down at the floor for a moment. "But your power … the senpai were saying they weren't expecting you to handle your first fight that well."

"Did the senpai ever explain why a giant Honshu wolf was walking around?" Hamuko asked, scratching her head. "Because those were _extinct _the last I checked. "

"Oh, don't worry about him; the senpai will explain that when you get back to the dorms." Yukari gave Hamuko a mischievous smile at that. The two girls laughed for a few moments before Yukari shook her head once again, looking down. "I … I owe you an apology anyway; you see, I read your file the day before you came to school. I just wanted to see what kind of person I'd be sharing the dorm with, y'know?" Hazel eyes saddened, and she sighed. "I didn't expect us to be so much alike …" Tapering off, Yukari let a hand grip at her heart-shaped choker. "My dad died when I was little." She explained, voice tired.

Hamuko winced a bit, but gave a sympathetic nod. She knew what Yukari meant now; her own parents – and her twin brother – had died in a car crash the night before her seventh birthday. Her memory of the event was foggy at best, but she could vaguely recall climbing out of the wrecked car, her father and brother killed from the impact of a car crash. What had happened to her mother, Hamuko couldn't recall at all. "But … why are you apologizing?" She asked after a moment of silence. "If I was in your situation, I probably would have done the same."

"I just feel bad for being so … well, so 'high-strung' with you at first." The brunet girl admitted, looking down. "Everybody reacts differently to that sort of thing, after all, so I didn't know what kind of person you'd be." At that, she let out a quiet laugh, rubbing her neck. "Akemi-senpai and Aragaki-san both told me to relax a bit around you and give you a chance." Seeing the confused look the first name was getting, Yukari waved a hand. "Akemi-senpai's the president of the archery club, no connection to the Shadows at all." She explained.

"I have to be honest, calling a dragon a Shadow is like calling a cat a Akita, unless I'm missing some context." Hamuko laughed, making Yukari giggle as well.

"Yeah, you kind of are, but don't worry." Yukari smiled again, sitting on the foot of Hamuko's bed. "The senpai will be able to explain everything soon, so they asked I don't go running around shouting nonsense where people who don't know about it could hear. They really don't want one of us to wind up in the loony bin." Both girls laughed again, the awkward atmosphere from the first few days almost a fever dream. Nodding after a comfortable silence had settled, Yukari pointed to Hamuko. "The doctor's couldn't find anything wrong with you, so you should be discharged tonight; they just said you were downright exhausted. Mitsuru-senpai was worried you might have gotten a concussion."

"Grandpapa Ryuu always did say I had a hard head." Hamuko laughed, brushing some of her hair back behind her shoulders. Seeing Yukari's look, she smiled. "Grandpapa Ryuu and his wife Grandmama Sumi are my mom's parents; they and my other set of grandparents took turns raising me after my parents died."

"Is your grandma Sumi the one you get your hair from?" Yukari asked.

"Nope; that's my dad's mom, Grandma Sakura." Hamuko shook her head.

"Oh please tell me your poor dad didn't have pink hair too." Yukari giggled, making Hamuko laugh before explaining the rest of her family tree. The calm chatter kept up until the doctor and nurse arrived to check on Hamuko. After a few moments of poking and prodding, they decided the pink-haired girl was fit to be discharged, leaving to get the paperwork.

"I'm so glad I don't have to stay here another night." Groaning, Hamuko hopped off the bed, looking around for her uniform. "… Where are my clothes …?" Yukari looked sheepish at that, lifting up a shopping bag.

"Your uniform is in the wash, and I kinda wanted to do something to make up for my earlier attitude …" the pink-clad girl explained, blushing a bit. Hamuko stared at her as she took the bag, looking down into it. "I-I hope it's not too weird! I looked at the sizes for your shirts and such when I put your spare uniforms back."

"… Why are there bike shorts in here?" Hamuko asked, touched; while getting a new outfit wasn't what she was expecting as an apology gift, she wasn't really complaining.

"Oh; those are for your school uniform. It's a trick I got from Akemi-senpai." Yukari shrugged, face still pink. "There's some really bad perverts at the school, and with you being new and looking like you came out of a video game? Yeah, didn't want to take any chances. I hope you don't mind. "

"No, it's nice; I wouldn't have even thought about that." Hamuko reassured the other girl, blushing as well herself. "… Granted, the last time someone tried to perv on me I slapped them hard enough to knock some fillings loose, but it's still nice to take precautions."

"For some reason, I don't doubt that you can do that." Yukari laughed before pushing Hamuko over to the bathroom. "Now go get changed! Aragaki-san's probably already making dinner; you're gonna want to have a good meal in your stomach before you get the exposition dump of a lifetime." Laughing at Yukari's explanation, Hamuko changed as fast as she could when her stomach started growling. At least Yukari had some nice fashion sense; the white pants and pale orange top were comfortable too.

Thankfully, the doctor had returned with her paperwork by the time she exited the bathroom, and it was only another ten minutes before the two girls were leaving the hospital, walking through downtown Iwatodai to reach the station as they discussed the various clubs and such that Gekkoukan had.

* * *

Like Yukari had claimed, Kimiko was cooking dinner when they returned, Shinjiro helping her. the woman had raced over to give Hamuko a hug upon seeing that she was okay, patting her on the back and making both her and Yukari sit down so she could feed the both of them. Shinjiro gave them an apologetic look from his spot in the kitchen, but didn't stop cooking.

"Aki and Mitsuru ate earlier, so when we're done, we're gonna head up to the fourth floor." He said over food, him and Kimiko having sat down to eat with Yukari and Hamuko. Seeing the questioning look he was getting from the pink-haired girl, the brunet senior nodded. "Takeba mentioned that we had to explain some shit to you, right? Well, the fourth floor's got the best place to discuss that sort of shit, and there's someone else here you should meet."

Nerves gripped Hamuko for some reason, but she nodded and resumed eating, squealing from the taste of the food. She was careful to mind her manners, but still ate fast, not wanting to take too long; she had apparently been asleep for about ten days, from what the other three told her. As it was, a half hour had passed before the group was heading upstairs, Hamuko staring at the large wooden doors that dominated one wall of the fourth floor. 'Please tell me this isn't a yakuza base.' She thought to herself, letting herself be led in …

Only to freeze when the Honshu wolf from the night before was exposed, sound asleep on one of the sofas with its head in Mitsuru's lap. The redheaded senior was scratching behind one ear while talking to a newcomer that made Hamuko almost do a double take; it looked like an older version of Mitsuru herself was there as well, wearing a white lab coat over a sharp-looking pants suit, her wavy red hair restrained by some black and white pins.

While she was impressed by the fact that the horse-sized wolf had managed to fit itself on the sofa so well, Hamuko was also confused. "… Okay first and foremost, who let the dog out?" She asked, pointing at it. Shinjiro proceeded to laugh before walking over, leaning over the back of the sofa and shaking the wolf's shoulders.

"Oi, Aki, wake up, will ya? Takeba and Arisato need places to sit too."

Hamuko felt the gears in her brain screech to a halt at that.

_WHAT._

To her eternal confusion, the wolf seemed to grumble, and wasn't present after she blinked. Instead, Akihiko was sitting next to Mitsuru, rubbing an eye as he glowered at Shinjiro. "I was comfortable." He muttered. Shinjiro just grinned before leaping over the back of the sofa to sit next to the silver-haired teen.

It took Yukari dragging her over to a love seat and making her sit down in it for Hamuko's brain to reboot. "Wai … what? You're … a wolf?" She asked, pointing at Akihiko. While it explained the silver hair, it still felt like something out of a fairy tale. Akihiko nodded, letting out a yawn before shaking his head.

"Yeah, I am." He replied, voice as calm as if he was talking about the weather. "Sad to say, I'm still not the strangest thing that you're probably going to run into from here on out." Hamuko bit her tongue on asking about the whole 'but aren't you supposed to be extinct' deal; she had a feeling that the fairly easy-going senpai wouldn't take it well.

Mitsuru chose to speak up at that moment, clearing her throat. "It's good to see you're awake and well, Arisato." She said, voice soft. "I'm sorry for not explaining things before the abnormal Shadow attacked the dorm, but we weren't expecting that sort of thing to occur." Nodding, she gestured towards the older version of her, who was looking at the group with pale grey eyes. "This is my mother, Kirijo Tenshi; she's the co-founder of S.E.E.S, and the one who's best equipped to explain the current situation."

The now named Tenshi let a chuckle escape her. "You've gotten better at that, Mitsuru." She told her daughter, deep voice gentle; Mitsuru responded by looking away for a moment with a blush, giving her mother time to shift a fraction to better look at Hamuko. "So, my daughter tells me you were pulled into this under unfavorable circumstances."

"Yeah, I'd call a dragon attack an unfavorable circumstance." Shinjiro muttered, earning a slap from his mother. Tenshi shook her head in amusement before nodding at Hamuko again.

"But at the same time, there was a benefit; I don't have to ask if you'd be willing to believe there were more than twenty-four hours in a day." She continued, brushing some hair out of her face. Hamuko had to nod in agreement, not fully comfortable admitting it hadn't been the first time she'd experienced the time paradox. Straightening her back when she saw Hamuko's nod, Tenshi crossed her arms over her chest.

"That time paradox, young miss Arisato, is the Dark Hour." She began, voice serious. "It's an anomaly whose creation is a long, complicated tale I'll have to share a separate time; it's more vital that I explain other things to you at this time, and I'd rather not overwhelm you so soon after waking up." Waiting until Hamuko had given her an understanding nod, Tenshi let out a sigh. "Thankfully, most of humanity is blissfully unaware of it, sleeping in coffins that are perhaps the safest place to be, for the Dark Hour is home to Shadows, the twisted manifestation of humanity's inner darkness. I'm certain you've heard of the "Lost", correct?"

"Yeah." Hamuko gave a nervous nod, shivering a fraction. She had seen a handful of the Lost before coming to Iwatodai, but the city itself … the amount of the Lost scared her. While nothing _looked _wrong, they _felt _wrong, and her grandparents had always steered her clear of them after a chance encounter with one when she was ten resulted in her bursting into hysterical sobbing.

Tenshi let out a sigh. "The Lost are victims of the Shadows; those who are awake in the Dark Hour without the Potential are their prey, and while they appear relatively normal to most people … those with the Potential can see the true extent of the damage that has been done to them." A collective shudder went through the room at that, and Hamuko could have sworn she felt a chill.

"But … the Potential?" She asked after a heavy silence, confused. While it was potentially related to the 'Persona' deal that seemed to be going on, she wanted confirmation, especially since she doubted she could blab about the Velvet Room.

Tenshi gave her a soft smile. "The Potential is what allows a person to summon what we call a Persona." She said, confirming Hamuko's suspicion. "While we're still doing research as to what exactly a Persona is, or what the criteria are for people to summon with the Potential, they are still quite efficient at combating the Shadows."

At this, she nodded to the other high schoolers present. "And that's where they come in, and you as well, tentatively. As much as I'm loathed to admit it, you are the only ones we are aware of in this part of Iwatodai capable of summoning Personae." She gave a guilty look to the floor at that. "I have a Persona myself, but I'm often away on business, elsewise I would be helping out as much as I could."

"Mother …" Mitsuru reached out and gripped her hand in a comforting gesture. Tenshi gave her a smile before sighing, drawing a breath.

"But as it is, we have a small group formed to help combat the shadows. It's the "specialized extracurricular execution sector', or S.E.E.S. for short." Tenshi must have seen the look of annoyance cross Hamuko's face at the acronym, because she chuckled. "Yes, I know, it's not the most flattering name, but it was the best anyone could come up with."

"It's listed as an under-the-table job with the Kirijo group." Kimiko took up the explanation, smiling. "We like to keep those with the Potential here just to make it easier when they decided to go out in the Dark Hour, and make sure the fighting strain isn't wearing them down too much. Yukari-chan's the only one we've had to relocate from another dorm though, thankfully."

"Kimiko-san is the S.E.E.S. supervisor." Tenshi nodded. "… And by that I mean she trailed along when Mitsuru managed to recruit Akihiko and Shinjiro and more or less installed herself as the dorm mother here." Hamuko couldn't resist a laugh at that, shaking her head. Tenshi smiled as well. "As you can see, it's actually been a wise investment."

"Basically …" Kimiko was rolling her eyes now, having pulled out a pendant from beneath the hem of her dress. It was most likely some sort of pocket watch, if the way she had it open and was looking at it was any indication. "What Tenshi-san's taking too long to say is that she'd like for you to join S.E.E.S." Giving Hamuko a soft smile, she nodded. "You're free to say no, don't worry; nobody's holding a gun to your head to make you join."

Hamuko giggled at that, mulling the decision over. While she wasn't comfortable in the Dark Hour, she also knew that they were trying their best to get rid of the paradox. And who knew when another dragon-like shadow would show up again … Plus, the group seemed nice and friendly, and Hamuko was worried about what would happen if she left Yukari high and dry; the other junior seemed to have a rift with Mitsuru, at the least, even if it wasn't fully noticeable.

… Plus she might finally figure out what happened that night ten years ago …

Smiling, she looked up and nodded, ruby eyes determined. "Count me in."

A relieved sigh seemed to fill the air around her, and Hamuko watched as the rest of the teenagers around her visibly relaxed at her statement. Yukari in particular seemed like a weight had been taken off of her shoulders. "I was so afraid you'd say no …" She whispered, prompting a smile of reassurance from Hamuko; it had to be rough being stuck in a dorm with a group of seniors at times …

She was snapped out of it when Tenshi stood up and approached her, a red armband and the wrist watch she saw Yukari wearing in her hand. "Here; the watch is an Evoker; it'll help you summon your Persona, along with various other factors." The woman explained, amusement in her eyes. "And the band can be changed; it helps us tell whose is whose at a glance." Hamuko laughed, taking the armband and watch and looking them over.

"Heh, well, we're up to five now …" Akihiko seemed amused by something, stretching his arms over his head as he looked around. "Would it be safe to go back _there _at long last." The other two seniors nodded, making Hamuko and Yukari look at them in nerves.

"… 'There'?" The two girls asked in unison, prompting a sigh from Kimiko and a shake of the head from Tenshi as Akihiko gave them a fittingly wolfish grin.

"The Shadow's nest; Tartarus."

* * *

_**Tori's Notes: **I HAVE NO REGRETS ABOUT THIS WHAT SO EVER. ESPECIALLY NOT THE SAILOR MOON JOKE. (Seriously though the game makes it so goddamn easy; Fighting evil by Moolight and winning love by day is MORE OR LESS THE GAME.) _

_But yes, on a more serious note, this is the chapter where most of the changes are starting to appear. Akihiko being a wolf demon (or youkai if you want to get semantical on our asses) is probably the biggest one, but really? We have no real other hint as to his backstory, and it would sure as hell explain his silver hair. And how he can punch out bears come Arena time. _

_And to continue the 'screw the dead parents' clause, Mitsuru's mother is alive and well, and is the co-leader of S.E.E.S with Kimiko, who handles the day-to-day stuff and makes sure the kids aren't getting themselves hurt too badly. What about Ikutuski, you might ask? Don't worry, we have plans for him that will bring him into the plot, but he just hasn't shown up yet. All in due time, all in due time... _

_Plus yes we're hitting Yuka-tan with the Niceness Hammer. Why? Because there's no reason for her to be catty with Hamuko after she saved her ass from a dragon, that's why. *shot* _

**_Shark's Notes:_**_ ...Before anyone asks, the idea of making Akihiko into a wolf youkai was all Starwing. However, I did decide to go along with it because of how admittedly awesome it was. *brickd* __But regardless, don't worry, we're not gonna just leave the whole wolf demon aspect of Akihiko at just that, since it expands into his character in this story quite a bit. How much? Well you'll just hafta wait and read the later chapters, tehe~ *brickd again*_

_Also, for clarification, the reason the Arcana Shadow was a hydra as opposed to the mess of hands with a mask in the original Persona 3? That's simple; neither of us like the Arcana Shadows designs one bit, so we made the decision to make them dragons instead. Because as any sensible person will ever know, dragons make everything a bajillion times better. (As shown by Starwing's take on the Magician fight into a much more intense fight as opposed to the quick snack it was for Thanatos)_

_Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter, even with Tenshi's exposition that droned out good ol' Kimiko. The reins go back to me for writing the next chapter, so hope to see you then!_


	3. The Magician Steals the Show!

_Junpei scowled a bit while picking out some of his most trustworthy of comfort food off the shelf within the nearby convenience store. The memory of his father screaming right into his ear with his usual drunken slur still rattled in his head, and let out a low growl that rippled in his throat. At this point, what was worse? The fact that these fights occurred just about every night, or that Junpei's first instinct was to yell his lungs out to his old man and then hightail it for anywhere that was still open in the middle of the night?_

_Junpei let out a frustrated sigh, and quickly shook his head a bit to get the thought out of his head. Upon grabbing a bag of chips and placing it in the arm that held all of his snacks, he went right back to the counter to purchase them, and soon walked out of the store with less yen in his wallet, but a plastic bag in hand as well. Once the doors closed automatically behind him, the capped high schooler pulled out a piece of jerky from the bag and bit off a piece, chewing on the dry meat almost furiously as he still appeared agitated._

_Once he swallowed and was about to take another bite, all of the lights that surrounded him shut right off, like a blackout suddenly hit._

_Junpei's eyes went from angry slits to wide open when he saw his surroundings become enshrouded in darkness, and the only light he could see was the ominous green tinge that came down from the moon. Just looking up at it sent a striking chill through Junpei's veins._

_But that was just what he saw; what he heard made his blood practically turn to ice. In the distance, a shrill scream could be heard. Upon turning to his right, Junpei saw a mess of ravens attacking a young man; the only other person he could see right now amidst this field of coffins. As soon as he noticed him, the other man's body fell right to the ground, with sunken-in eyes, and skin so pale, that looked like he didn't have a drop of blood coursing inside him._

_A sight that made Junpei's heart nearly stop beating entirely._

_The black cloud of ravens still hovered above him, each one possessing crimson eyes that cut through the shadows; eyes that locked right onto Junpei. The birds then started flying right for him, moving like a single entity as some seem to form together into a set of massive wings, as well as an even larger pair of red eyes._

_Junpei let out a scream as he saw that; every instinct in his body told him to run, but his legs felt like rubber, and couldn't stop shaking. So instead, he threw the plastic bag of goods right at the giant beast, which soon split back apart into the several ravens, and completely dodged the bag. It came back together immediately, and was already opening up a beak filled with razor sharp teeth._

_However, before Junpei could even react again, a sudden flash of silver appeared, and caused the giant bird to split back apart into the mess of ravens, all of which let out a sharp squeal of pain. When the flash came to a halt, a massive silver and snarling wolf that nearly towered over Junpei came into sight, with three of the birds crushed within its jaws. Each bird then seemed to dissolve into a black liquid that slowly dripped like blood from the wolf's fangs._

_The wolf then turned it head right towards Junpei, which made him fall right on his behind, and shudder near uncontrollably as several loud pants came from his mouth. His heart beat so fast it felt like it was ready to burst right out of his chest, and his stomach twisted up into several knots at this rate. The deep growl from the wolf that rung in Junpei's ears solidified one single thought that ran in his head right now; he was going to die._

_The wolf then took a leap while baring its fangs, to which Junpei held both of his arms in front of him, and let out a terrified scream. Once he got the scream out of his system though, he opened his eyes back open with slight confusion, and looked over his arms again, not finding a scratch on them._

_Upon hearing the combination of jaws snapping and savage caws from behind, Junpei turned his head back to see the wolf fighting the same flock of ravens from before. Another figure that floated above the large creature, adorned in a white mantle, also tried to fight against the ferocious birds, but the strikes of lightning that came from his hand didn't seem to even have an impact._

_When some of the birds aimed for Junpei again, the capped teenager felt the fear from before well up inside him again, and grasped his head in his hands, like someone trying to wake up from a horrific nightmare._

"_STAY AWAY!" He yelled out, his throat sore from all of the screaming, and the sound of shattering glass soon followed as a blue light slowly circled around the high schooler. A figure formed from what appeared to be shards of glass right above Junpei, coated from head to toe in golden armor, with a massive pair of wings formed out of blades attached to its hands and legs. The armored figure then used one such wing to slash the incoming ravens right into two with a clean swipe. The pieces soon fell right to the ground, and melted away into the same black liquid that still coated the wolf's mouth._

_The figure then sparked a strong sapphire flame within its palm, and threw it right at the mess of birds. The fire hit dead on, and spread to each and every raven in a matter of seconds, rendering them helpless before their bodies burned away into ash in the wind._

_The wolf's snarling finally ceased as its face had a look of sheer surprise on it, even with the several claw marks and bloody splotches across it. The figure floating above it seemed to have disappeared by now as well, and the wolf stepped back in front of Junpei._

"_Ah!" Junpei let out as he backed up against the wall of the convenience store with his legs trembling again. "G-get outta here, will ya!?" He yelled out. As if in unison the figure draped in armor hovering above him raised its wing to slash the beast._

_The loud cling of metal striking metal soon followed. The armored figure's wing was immediately blocked by a large broadsword, attached to the right arm of the warrior that hovered above the wolf in that fight against the ravens._

_Junpei's eyes widened upon such a sight, and as such, he got a look at the wolf again. He noticed that now, it wasn't snarling, or even appeared all that hostile despite the injuries across its face and upper body._

_The wolf slowly stepped into a shadow cast down from one of the various buildings, where it couldn't be seen within the darkness. Just a second later, the silver-haired senior of Gekkoukan High School, Sanada Akihiko, stepped out from it._

"_Calm down, okay?" Akihiko said out in a calm tone of voice, even with the few trickles of blood on his face seeping from several claw marks. As he cautiously stepped closer to Junpei, the two figures above the young men faded away, but the shrouds that filled the world remained, as did the virescent glare spread across it all by the moon up above._

_Junpei had so many questions riddling in his mind now from everything that happened that he desperately wanted to ask, but his throat was too dry to utter anything more than a few wavering pants. His eyes felt damp as well, and when he raised a hand up to his face, he only now noticed a stream of droplets trickling down his face._

"_Hey, you hurt?" Junpei jolted up a bit from Akihiko's question, simply from not expecting it. The upperclassman chuckled a bit from such a reaction. "Guess I can take that as a 'not too badly' then." He stated afterwards._

_While Akihiko smirked a bit and held a hand over some of the gashes on his head, Junpei was still outright bewildered beyond belief. But at the very least, he finally stood back up on his own instead of backed up against a wall, and wasn't terrified for his life._

"_The others'll explain everything later, 'kay?" Akihiko remarked as he put the hand back down, his injuries somehow healing right over in that short amount of time, and offering it out to Junpei. _

_For as confused and terrified as the underclassman felt from that entire ordeal, he didn't have a reason not to trust the silver-haired senpai, especially since he appeared to currently be the closest thing to an answer to his multitude of questions. He soon took a hold of the gloved hand Akihiko offered to him, and gently shook it._

* * *

"How are you?" An all too reminiscent voice asked while the rest of the world slept.

The familiar voice rung in Hamuko's ears as she nestled within the blankets of her bed, resting peacefully even during the Dark Hour. As such, her only response was a small shake of her head as it rested even deeper into the pillow.

"Oh c'mon, don't tell me you're tired already." The voice now whined out in response.

That seemed to do even less though, as Hamuko switched over to the other side of her bed.

"Well, guess you leave me no choice~" The voice said with all too much playful joy within it.

A pair of fingers then appeared right above Hamuko's forehead, and soon flicked on it, which got the pink-haired girl awake now if the quick 'ow!' she let out and her face scrunching up in sheer discomfort was any proclamation.

"Oh, there you are." That familiar voice answered from witnessing her reaction. When Hamuko opened her eyes, they immediately widened from seeing nothing but Pharos' smirking face, mere centimeters away from her own.

"You wouldn't respond, so you left me hanging after your first ordeal." Pharos soon stated upon the eye contact. When Hamuko's eyes became more adjusted to the dimness of the Dark Hour, she that Pharos was actually standing on the ceiling upside-down.

It was upon seeing that, that Hamuko's eyebrows furrowed alongside a pout from Pharos' choice of words.

"You just had to keep your sense of humor throughout the years, didn't you Pharos?" She asked out irately to the teen while still lying in her bed. Pharos let out a chuckle as his smile only grew, and took a few slow steps back from where he stood on the ceiling. When he was right above the very end of the bed, Pharos lifted both of his feet off of the ceiling, and seemed to levitate until he was sitting upright on the left side on Hamuko's bed.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing after awakening to your power now." Pharos remarked, putting up one leg over the other as he sat as well. "Especially a power as unusual as yours."

"Unusual?" Hamuko questioned with one raised eyebrow. Unusual? How was her newfound ability unusual if she saw everyone else in the dorm using it? Including the senpai who turned out to be a wolf demon? She was about to ask about it, until she remembered one of the first shocking events from the night with the Hydra; the stark black thing with the dragon shaped skull, and the large sword that obliterated three of the hydra's heads on its own.

"Did you mean that…thing that bursted out of the marionette that called herself Eurydice?" Hamuko asked, her tone of voice quite serious this time.

Pharos didn't respond right away like he usually did, instead staying quiet, as his smile seemed to gradually fade away.

"…Something like that." He said in a low and even somewhat somber tone; one he very rarely used. He seemed distracted as well, turning his head to the window, looking out to the moon. "…A great darkness will soon come…" Pharos whispered underneath his breath.

"A great darkness?" Hamuko felt a sudden tinge of worry travel through her body from Pharos' words. He wasn't acting like his typical self right now, and what was he muttering to himself about darkness? Did he mean this ill fated time of night? …Or something even worse that involved the dragon attack from before?

"What the heck do you mean Pharos?" She asked out, noticeable concern slipping out through her words.

"…Can't say I'm sure myself, unfortunately." Pharos replied, not even turning his head back to look at her. Afterwards, silence soon crawled out in the chilling air, as Hamuko didn't know how to respond to that. Several minutes then passed, feeling like hours, until Pharos finally turned back to give the teenage girl some eye contact.

"Regardless, I should probably stop making you worry tonight." He stated, showing a soft smile and standing up from the bed. As if in unison with his words, the shroud of darkness that enveloped one corner of the room began to spread out, coating the rest of the room until it reached to where Pharos stood. The black stripes on his outfit seemed to merge with the pitch black, appearing as though he was only made up of white stripes, and a pair of sapphire blue eyes.

"Seeya~" With that last statement, the azure eyes closed, and the white stripes floating in the air gradually vanished. When the shadows receded back into the corner of the room, nobody was standing there.

Hamuko let her head fully rest against the pillow, but she wasn't ready to fall back asleep now that her mind filled to the brim with questions and worries. She turned her head over to the left, looking at her pendant as it lied on a small table by the bed, next to her alarm clock.

It didn't glow like it did on the night of the attack, but Hamuko still felt uneasiness well up within her.

* * *

Sunday was certainly something else. Even though Hamuko had a day off from school, she still found herself waking up even earlier than she had to for the weekdays, and going to the top of the roof to practice her skills with her naginata. As she recited the instructions and demonstrations from her Grandfather Ryuu of how to properly use the weapon in her mind, the memory of the life-threatening dragon attack kept popping into her head as well, which reminded her why she didn't want to get rusty with the polearm.

But if there was anything that ended up startling her on the roof again, it was, of all things, Yukari, Shinjiro, and Akihiko standing behind her. After all three of them laughed at Hamuko's slight startle from suddenly seeing them on the roof, as well as a compliment from the male upperclassmen on her fighting skills, Yukari told her that they all decided on showing her around Iwatodai, if only to make her more familiar with the city. Hamuko immediately agreed to it, and all three teenagers ended up dragging her to different parts of Iwatodai for the afternoon. Be it the jewelry store or karaoke place in the mall, the Naganaki Shrine or Police Station, to which she became acquainted with the graciously gruff Officer Kurosawa, or the Hakegure Ramen place that made Shinjiro smack Aki on the back of his head for 'thinking with his stomach instead of his brain' as he put it (that was the point Hamuko remembered this was a wolf she was seeing the city with), she managed to have a good time while also getting a better general idea of Iwatodai. Considering everything that just happened a few days ago, she was definitely gonna need that.

And when the group of high school students finally got back home, it was already evening. After quickly giving her gratitude to her classmate and senpai, Hamuko went back to her room, and plopped right onto her bed as the sheer soreness came rushing into her legs from all the walking and training today.

"Hamuko-san?" A voice that sounded like Yukari asked from behind her door, accompanied by three knocks. "Akihiko-senpai wants to tell us something, so can you come down?"

"Oh, sure thing!" Hamuko answered, lifting herself back up from the bed after her few minutes of rest, and opening up the door to follow Yukari back downstairs.

Once down there, she saw Akihiko standing right by the front door, and Kimiko right beside him, her hands intertwined behind her back while standing on the balls of her feet.

"Okay, we're here Senpai." Yukari said once her and Hamuko walked up to the two of them. "So what's this about?"

"Glad you asked in particular Takeba." Akihiko smirked, making Yukari raise an eyebrow. "There's someone I want to introduce." Upon saying that, Akihiko then turned to the door, looking as though he was waiting for it to open. Once a few seconds passed by though, and nothing happened, the senior opened the door by a crack to poke his head out. "Hey, get in here already, will ya?" He called out, sounding quite obviously annoyed.

"Ngh, hold your horses already, this stuff's heavy!" Someone answered back from outside, his familiar-sounding voice accompanied by the sound of plastic wheels rolling on concrete. Shortly afterwards, the front door opened up much wider, revealing a hugs suitcase rolling in, with a duffel bag to the side that was held by an arm. Once all the luggage came to a stop, the person from behind stepped out, revealing himself to be none other than Iori Junpei.

"Wait, Junpei!?" Yukari practically yelled out of sheer bewilderment. Once her shock had subsided however, her eyes narrowed as they turned back to Akihiko. That served as enough of a sign that the gears in Yukari's head were spinning back in place, and clicked together with a sudden realization. "Oh no, you're not telling me…"

"I am." Akihiko grinned even wider than before, hardly fazed by the sharp look the cardigan garbed junior threw at him. "I bumped into him last night, where I saw hi-Owowow!"

Before Aki could finish, his ear was immediately yanked on by Kimiko, while the older woman in question had a strongly irate look on her face.

"Akiiii…" Kimiko uttered while still pulling, while her voice dripped oodles of irritation with her child from every single syllable. "You went out on your own again HOW long after you broke your ribs fighting a giant dragon?"

"Ow! M-mom!" Akihiko cried out. "My ribs are healed! I'm fine I swear!"

While Kimiko was still rather unconvinced, easily shown through the pout that puffed up both of her cheeks, she did at least let go of the cartilage around Akihiko's head now. As the silver-haired senior rubbed the right side of his ear with a whimper of pain slipping through his lips, the capped junior found himself stuck between being wide-eyed with surprise and snickering from seeing his upperclassman get schooled by his mom right in front of him.

"But yeah," Junpei soon said, deciding not to comment on it since he didn't want his face to get caved in by Gekkoukan's best boxer. "He found me cryin' like a baby at the convenience store when I was surrounded by coffins, and nearly got my eyes pecked out by a bunch of wild birds." After that first bit of explanation, Junpei turned his head back to Akihiko, showing a rather nervous smile across his face. "…Senpai, I wasn't seeing shit when you showed up, was I?"

The upperclassman responded to the question with a chuckle.

"No, you weren't." Akihiko answered nonchalantly, while also pulling one glove off of his left hand. Once his hand was bare, he curled it up into a fist, to which it became coated with fur as silver as the senior's hair atop his head. "I'm a wolf demon, simple as that." He said as he opened his hand, revealing a set of blackened pads on his fingers and palm, as well as sharp claws from his fingertips.

"…You say that like it's nothing that'd sound outright insane to someone." Hamuko retorted, eyebrows furrowing and all. As Akihiko looked back at her with his pair of brows raised up in apparent confusion while his hand changed back, Kimiko let out a chuckle from the combination of Hamuko's statement and her son's bafflement.

"Well, it's certainly a joy to see another member." Kimiko commented, turning her sight and attention back to the capped underclassman before outright beaming towards him. "Especially one as funny and charming as you Junpei!"

Cue Junpei's eyes widening right up from the barrage of compliments, as well as his cheeks going beet red in a way that made al the girls laugh a bit to themselves. Before Junpei could conjure up a response however, the sudden sound of static seemed to fill the room.

"_**Kimiko, are the children with you?" **_A voice soon asked out once the static cleared. While Junpei was currently wigging out from hearing the unfamiliar voice, as it seemed to come from nowhere, Hamuko and the others recognized it as Mitsuru's mother, Tenshi.

"Oh yes, they're all present and accounted for Tenshi." Kimiko answered, appearing as though she was conversing with air. "We're just still on the first floor; Aki managed to find another person with the potential." As Kimiko finished, she could already picture a small smirk stretching Tenshi's ruby red lips.

"_**That is most pleasant news, Kimiko, but I'll need you and everyone else to come up to the fourth floor again; we're holding another meeting to explain everything we hadn't gone into full detail over in the previous one." **_With that, the voice seemed to have faded away, and the static from before was nowhere to be heard.

"Got it, we'll be right up Tenshi." Kimiko responded, as Tenshi's voice was nowhere to be heard for now, and started making her way to the staircase. "Come along now dearies!" She called out to the teenagers behind her, with a turn of her head showing a most joyous grin.

"…Senpai, I dunno what's more shocking; you being a wolf, or her being your mom." Junpei remarked as he and the others followed Kimiko to the fourth floor, carrying a face that was riddled with sheer astonishment from learning those two facts.

"Well, adopted mom, but whatever." Akihiko shrugged, still seeming unfazed by it. After the shrug, Akihiko turned his head back a bit, looking at Junpei and Hamuko with something of a smirk on his face. "And don't worry, the surprises won't end there."

Both Junpei and Hamuko swallowed, not having the slightest clue about what would eventually unfold.

The room in the fourth floor had hardly changed from the last time Hamuko had entered it, aside from the lack of a giant wolf stretched out across the sofa. Mitsuru and Tenshi however, sat in the same spots as they had before, while a silver briefcase rested on the table in the middle. Hamuko took a seat upon the end of the sofa, right next to Akihiko, while Kimiko, Yukari, and Junpei occupied the seats on the opposite side. Shinjiro, on the other hand, pulled up a simple wooden chair up to the end of the table, and sat in it in the opposite side, resting his arms and chin on it. All of which was to Kimiko's slight dismay as gave off a slight pout.

"Well then, might as well cut to the chase." Tenshi stated once everyone was arranged, to which all eyes looked back at her. "When Mitsuru, Akihiko, Shinjiro, and myself were the only Persona-users in S.E.E.S., the risk of fighting shadows was too high for us to make any progress in our goal."

Hamuko could hear something of a faint growl coming from the silver-haired senpai sitting next to her. Knowing him, he no doubt had more confidence in himself taking on the Shadows than Tenshi was letting on, for rather obvious reasons.

"But now with the drastic increase in Persona-users," Something of a smirk seemed to tug at Tenshi's lips. "We can commence the exploration of Tartarus."

"Tartarus?" Junpei immediately raised an eyebrow from where he sat. "The hell is that? Sounds like toothpaste." He commented, causing quite a few deadpan stares to land right on him.

"I thought you were saying tartar sauce myself." Hamuko soon stated honestly afterwards. "So I was wondering why we were going out to eat deep-fried shrimp…" She said with a weak chuckle, noticing that all of the glares on Junpei now landed on her as well, and feeling a tinge of embarrassment begin to bubble up inside her.

"Oh great…" Shinjiro sighed out his words while slapping his entire palm over his exasperated face. "We recruited a doofus and a walking stomach; this'll go swimmingly…" He managed to ignore the small smack his mother gave him on the shoulder, as well as her pout.

Tenshi sighed before raising a finger to rub against her temple.

"No, it isn't a type of toothpaste or condiment." She continued. "But to tell the truth, it would probably be best if you witnessed it for yourself." She then stood up from her seat, took a hold of the handle on the silver briefcase to lift it up, and walked up to where Junpei was. "Iori."

"Gak!" Junpei flinched back a bit with widened eyes, before regaining his posture and trying his best to look back at Tenshi. "Uh, yes Mrs. Kirijo?" He asked, the nervousness in his voice all too noticeable.

The older woman then opened up the briefcase and displayed the contents to him; a small wristwatch and a bright red armband with bold English letters on it. The very same objects Hamuko had received when she decided to join S.E.E.S.

"Once you get yourself ready, meet up with us back at the first floor." Tenshi addressed, placing the objects in both of Junpei's hands. "From there, we'll head to where Tartarus will arise."

Junpei simply nodded, as everyone else stood back up and headed for the door, aiming to reach the first floor again. Hamuko could only let out a soft sigh of slight disquiet underneath her breath, wondering what was going to happen tonight.

* * *

"THIS is the nest of shadows you guys were talking about!?" Hamuko blurted right out once the group reached their destination, the Gekkoukan High School that she had just went to a few days ago as a student.

"…Huh. Can't say I'm that surprised actually." Junpei uttered, to which a sly grin soon grew on his face, before Shinjiro raised up one of his hands to smack the junior behind the head that is, causing that grin to instantly be replaced by a cringed up face of discomfort as an 'ow!' came from him.

"Shinji, be nice." Kimiko stated as her cheeks puffed up into yet another pout, and her hand tugged a bit on the maroon peacoat her son was wearing. Shinjiro only gave a small 'hmph' and something of a snort to his mother's remark, even while Junpei was still rubbing the back of his head.

Hamuko just let out a sigh now, seeing how her comment was left unanswered, and only caused comedic banter that annoyed her senpai. Tightening the grip on her polearm a bit, she looked ahead to the others in front of her; Akihiko had a rather irate look on his face while one eye seemed to be aimed at Junpei, no doubt annoyed by his previous comment. Mitsuru and Tenshi on the other hand, had their attention locked onto their wristwatches as the minutes slowly ticked down to midnight.

Once the time finally struck, the green light washed over the world once again, leaving all of the other lights to shut off. Barely even a second passed before the ground underneath the school campus suddenly seemed to shake, and pieces of the school rose, twisting and turning into each other while metal was warped, concrete was unearthed, and every section of the school was warped into the most bizarre of buildings resembling a tower, reaching up to the ominous moon above.

All of the juniors' mouths were hanging wide open from the sight of what just took place, having next to no words that could properly describe the chaotic mess of questions they had running through their heads.

"Wh-what the hell happened to our school!?" Junpei asked out, being the first to break the silence. Almost as if in response, Mitsuru and Tenshi rose up from their watches, and turned back to the others.

"This is Tartarus." Mitsuru responded in the assertive tone she always had. "The labyrinth that reveals itself during the Dark Hour." Upon seeing all of the underclassmen's looks of worry, she smirked a bit. "No need to fret though, for once the Dark Hour passes, the school will return to normal."

"W-well, okay…but why?" Hamuko asked out, regaining her speech as well. "Why does Gekkoukan turn into a giant tower every midnight then?"

After Hamuko asked that question, Mitsuru went silent, and both her and her mother looked down a bit as a pained expression grew on their faces. Hamuko felt a slight tinge of both guilt and uncertainty travel through her upon seeing their reactions.

"…We'll explain that later." Tenshi answered after about one minute of silence, and rested her hand on the gates of what was now knows Tartarus. Once she did, the gates opened right up, complete with a slow creek that sent a shiver down each one of the kouhai's spines. "For now, it's time for the first official exploration of Tartarus."

With that, every current member of S.E.E.S. began following Tenshi into the mysterious labyrinth. The front doorway of it was decorated with engravings that resembled two western dragons locked into battle, and with a strong push, Tenshi opened them right up, revealing a small hallway that seemed to only lead to pure darkness.

Tenshi and the senpai continued onward, and once the juniors gathered up their nerves and received a soft pat of assurance from Kimiko, they followed suite. It was near impossible for them to see anything through the think shroud in this hallway, but when Hamuko looked to her right, she could see a small gleam from Akihiko's silver eyes. That wasn't the only thing she had noticed though, for she heard the senpai's slow breaths grow louder with each exhale, and his presence felt much larger than before, like she was walking next to a giant.

Upon reaching the spacious interior, light finally shone down again, and Hamuko saw that her sensations were correct, as Akihiko was once again a wolf. He still had the red armband labeled 'S.E.E.S.' across his left bicep, as well as the small bandage located right over his eye, but the rest of his clothing seemed to have disappeared, leaving his massive coat of silver fur to bask in the luminescence of this place.

It was far from the only eye-opening thing within this room as well, for the ceiling tapered off into a topping that was typically only seen in cathedrals. A golden staircase stood in the dead center of the room, somehow standing straight up without any weight supporting it from below, which led up to a door crafted entirely out of gigantic clockwork pieces. To the right of that stood a much more traditional grandfather clock, draped with an almost magical golden sheen. To the left, something resembling a warp-pad from all those sci-fi shows and video games the girl grew up on could be seen, projecting a green glow upwards.

"It's even freakier lookin' on the inside…" Junpei appropriately commented as he gazed across just about every corner of the room, his eyes wide open in absolute astonishment.

"Mother and I will remain here in order to give you surveillance." Mitsuru announced, with all of the eyes landing back on her once again. "Since the structure is Tartarus randomizes with each passing day, it is critical that we have at least one supportive Persona-user for each exploration." She then softly gripped her left arm with one hand, as if in slight disdain from stating that fact. However, she managed to regain a small grin shortly afterwards. "Thankfully, our Personae happen to have that ability, so, Arisato, Takeba, and Iori." She looked right at all of the juniors that she referred to, causing each one to straighten their posture as she addressed them. "You'll be going up to the second floor of Tartarus at the highest."

"Wait, by ourselves?!" Yukari responded with an even wider pair of eyes than before, and definitely not in favor of venturing a creepy as hell dungeon that she's never been in before without an upperclassman around.

"Psh, like hell." The sudden sound of Akihiko's voice beneath a thick growl made all three of the novice Persona-users turn their heads back, to which they saw their wolf demon of a senpai. "If I wasn't gonna let you guys die during the Hydra attack, then I'm not gonna let you get lost in there." He stated, taking a small step forward with one of his huge paws, as his black lips curled up ever so slightly into a grin. "Besides, I know that it's difficult to hear my words alongside the growl I have in this form, so it's important that you can get used to it so you know what I'm saying."

It was at that point Kimiko broke from her silence, and her expression became outright livid.

"Aki, don't tell me you're risking your well-being again!" She yelled out from behind him, causing a quick yelp of surprise from her quadruped son. "You already did so at least three times!" Her words only grew harsher the more Kimiko shouted them out, even making Akihiko's ears go flat against his skull.

Hamuko even backed up a bit herself from Kimiko's current outburst, but she also did a mental sigh to herself, now knowing that she wasn't the only one a touch worried about the last Honshu wolf alive being as reckless as he proved to be so far.

"Heh, relax Ma." A gruff voice that could only belong to someone like Shinjiro soon said, as the shaggy teen placed a hand on his mother's shoulder, breaking her out of her small outburst. "I'll make sure the fluffy butt doesn't do anything stupid again." Alongside his statement, Shinjiro raised a battle-axe with one arm and let it rest on his own shoulder, giving off a grin of confidence as he did so.

"Gee, nice to know how reassuring you are Shinji." Akihiko replied with his ears coming back up, but his eyes squinting into a deadpan glare. It didn't last long though, for the wolf let out a quick snort and walked up a few more steps forward. "But regardless, an Alpha will be required to make necessary decisions."

"Eh?" Both of the other kouhai tilted their heads in confusion from Akihiko's choice of words, with Junpei even scratching his head with the cap still on. "Alpha?"

"He means a field leader." Kimiko said, having calmed down a bit now, and was even chuckling again. "Forgive him, Aki still says phrases like that as something of a habit." She practically laughed out, ignoring Akihiko's chagrined snarl at the same time.

"A-a leader?" Junpei's eyes lit up like nighttime stars from the sound of that word, and his arm shot right up before some of the people gathered in the room could even blink. "Oh god, me me me, please pick me!" He stammered out as his goofiest grin yet nearly over took his face, all while waving his around sporadically like a grade schooler. Obviously, he didn't seem to notice some of the raised eyebrows and nasty looks aimed right at him.

Akihiko however, paid no heed to Junpei, for as difficult as it was right now, and continued lingering until he stopped right in front of Hamuko, turning his head so that his face was right in front of hers.

Hamuko's spine was now ramrod stiff from being so close to a giant beast, afraid to move a single millimeter in the fear of upsetting him. His silver eyes practically bore right into Hamuko's core, and his snout was but a mere inch away from her face. Eventually though, Akihiko seemed to sniff at her in an intrigued manner, much to the pink-haired girl's bewilderment, and then lightly bopped her on the sternum with his nose. That of which made Hamuko's face suddenly flush a shade of pink.

"Arisato, you're in charge." Akihiko answered out to her, pulling his head back and giving her a faint smirk.

"Wait, what!?" Junpei's arm fell right back down upon hearing that, with the most dejected look possible on a human. But it didn't take long for that look to change from one of dejection to one of anger. "But she's a gi-"

A vicious snarl instantly came from Akihiko before Junpei could finish, and his silver eyes locked right onto him with an intense glare. His fangs were baring just as they were the night before, immediately making Junpei yelp out and start backing up from the feral beast as his eyes were filled with fear once again, just as Yukari's were as well, despite not being the center of the wolf's current attention.

Even Hamuko herself backed up a few steps away from her growling senpai; if not from instinct, then from wanting to stay out of the situation from seeing how it seemed to be centered on her becoming the group's leader.

"Ow!" It was then and there that she seemed to slam into something, causing pain to crawl all across her back. Upon turning around to see what was there, she saw a single door there, unattached to any wall for a room to be in, and illuminating a familiar blue light.

The same type of light also came from a pocket in her skirt, and when she reached into it, she pulled out the blue key she had in one of her previous dreams. Her hand then seemed to start moving on its own by placing it into the keyhole on the doorknob, which made a small click, no doubt signifying that it was unlocked. With that, Hamuko's hand rested on the knob, and slowly turned it, opening the door as even brighter blue light washed over her.

* * *

"Ah, I've been waiting for your return." A haunting voice that Hamuko recognized called out.

Hamuko's eyelids twitched and moved, trying to open back up from the barrage of light they faced a couple seconds ago. Once they did, she saw the same elevator room dowsed in royal blue that she had seen twice before in her dreams, with the same two men known as Igor and Theodore on the opposite side of the small round table.

"You can be at ease, dear guest." Igor said in his typical tone, which Hamuko thankfully wasn't freaked out by since she seemed to be more accustomed to it by now. "The hand of time has come to a standstill in your world. I've only invited you back here to elaborate on my role in your journey."

"You mean aside from spelling out spooky shit that sounds like it came from a fortune cookie?" Hamuko snarked at him, and caused a chuckle to come out of the elderly man.

"If that's how you understand it, then yes." "My goal is the creation of new Personae through Fusion, so that you can give rise to much more powerful ones."

"Is that why Theodore told me about the Compendium before?" Hamuko asked, looking at the 'flight attendant' standing next to him, to which he showed her a composed grin.

"Correct Milady." Theodore answered with a polite nod. "You wouldn't want to delve into the frustration of losing your best Persona to a Fusion that you regretted after all, no?" He laughed a bit at his own statement, while his guest furrowed her eyebrows instead.

Once Theodore's laugh quieted down, he looked back at Hamuko with his otherworldly golden eyes, still showing a small smirk. "It is also worth notifying you that if you wish to obtain more Personae, the best place to look is within the darkness of your own heart."

Hamuko almost felt the giant question mark float above her head. What the hell did Theodore mean by that? She was about to ask him, but her eyelids felt as heavy as lead once again, and vision began to peter out.

"Now then, it is time for you to venture forth." Igor's voice echoed in her ears as her eyes saw nothing but black. "Until we meet again…"

* * *

Hamuko furiously blinked once the feeling came back into her eyelids, and her vision slowly returned to the sight of Junpei frozen with fear from his wolf demon of a senpai growling at him. Once the wolf was certain that his message got across to the novice, he ceased his snarl, and stepped back a bit.

"Arisato." He called out, making the pink-haired junior flinch back a bit.

"O-oh! Yes Senpai?" Hamuko asked out, still brushing away some of the cobwebs in her head. From there, Akihiko turned his head up to the large staircase in the dead center of the room.

"Ready whenever you are." He said, landing a single silver eye back on her.

The gears in Hamuko's head clicked back into place now, and she nodded her head to the team before running back up to them, and began heading up the stairs with the rest of them following her.

Once they were up halfway, she took a small look behind her. From there, she could see Akihiko's stern, but composed silver eyes, Shinjiro's outright lax composure as the battle axe was still strung across his shoulders, Yukari's quick tug of anxiety on her cardigan, and Junpei's quick 'hmph' to himself while he shoved his free hand straight into his pocket.

But what caught Hamuko's main attention was what was strung about the circular rim on the floor on the interior. On it, there were dragonic symbols, united into a circle, with one of them appearing all too familiar to the Hydra S.E.E.S. had fought several nights before.

Hamuko's eyes widened up a bit from noticing that, but turned back to the stairs once she realized she was at the top, and placed a hand on the clockwork door, feeling her heart beat in her chest as she braced herself.

* * *

Within the walls of Tartarus, the halls of the high school could finally be seen again, but not in the manner they were usually seen in the middle of the school days. Instead, the virescent luminesce of the Dark Hour somehow creeped into Tartarus, as did the darkness that shrouded at least halfway down the hallways.

Hamuko raised her naginata into battle position, holding in the urge to let out a shudder from being in this environment again. It wasn't as problematic for her as it usually was, since she now had company around that ensured that she wouldn't be all by herself in this time period, but that didn't comfort her entirely.

"_Can you all hear me?" _Mitsuru's voice soon asked to everyone, making the juniors stop dead in their tracks.

"Woah!" Junpei let out, taking a step back in surprise. "Senpai, is that you?"

"Yeah, her Persona can do this shit, 'member?" Shinjiro remarked while also shrugging a bit. How he could do that with the giant hunk of metal that was his axe was a mystery to everyone.

"_Thank you for your input Aragaki."_ Mitsuru said, the deadpan tone within her voice being all too noticeable, even as it came from a mystical form of communication. _"Regardless, your current task is to defeat all of the Shadows on this floor. Don't be fooled by the empty-appearing corridors, they're inept at hiding themselves in the least likely of places."_

"Got it Senpai." Hamuko firmly responded before walking into the corridor, only hearing the echo of everyone's footsteps. "Awfully quiet in here though…"

"No, it isn't." Akihiko's words were hardly heard underneath the low snarl he was already giving off, making the newly appointed leader turn her head back to him. When she did, she saw that his muzzle was already starting to scrunch up, and his ears stood straight up with an occasional twitch coming from them.

"It's faint, but I can already hear them, scurrying around like the rats they are…" His growl only grew from there, with his fangs slowly coming into sight.

A quick chill went through Hamuko's body from seeing Akihiko's reaction, and looked back in front of her, seeing an open doorway to the left of her. Walking into it, the only thing that greeted them were the black puddles of who knows what, oozing from the corners of the room, but Hamuko had the feeling it wasn't empty. A muffled scratching sound just barely hit her ears when she took a few steps into it, almost in unison with the growl that still riddled in Akihiko's throat.

The rest of the group followed, with a wet footstep coming from Junpei as he no doubt stepped in one of the puddles, and that's when the first attack commenced.

A hand suddenly shot out of the obsidian liquid and fiercely grabbed Junpei by the leg, causing the junior to let out a shout and swat his sword at it. The blade sliced right through the arm, causing a screech to fill the room, and the black puddle he stepped on to scurry away with another arm as a blue mask came into sight. As the severed arm flapped like a fish on land while still holding its grip on Junpei's leg, Akihiko bit right onto it with his massive jaws, ripping it right off and tossing it into a wall where it became no more than a hideous smear.

Yukari wasted no time pulling out an arrow and firing it straight at the Shadow, hitting it right in the eye socket of the mask, making the Shadow's shriek even louder and stop right where it was. The numerous puddles in the room's corners then began to shake and twitch, when sets of hands and arms bursted from them as well, and surrounded the group of Persona Users.

"Shit… They've already learned how to swarm…" Shinjiro muttered with a scowl before stepping out to the front with his battle-axe in hand. From there, he managed to take out two of the incoming shadows with one swing, his axe shattering their masks.

Hamuko herself wasted no time invoking her Persona, summoning Eurydice in a flare of blue light. But instead of bludgeoning the Shadows like she did on the night of the Dragon attack, the marionette instead strummed the lyre, and flares of pink fire began to form on her fingers. The fire then grew in Eurydice's hand, which she then threw at the Shadows in front of her. Upon contact, each one stopped right in their tracks as the flames consumed their being, and soon shriveled them into nothing. However, one of them seemed to release a pale light as it burned away, and the ash that was left of it now formed into a card with a small winged lady on the front of it. Reaching her hand out, she took a grasp of it, feeling a warmth from it before it seemed to break apart, with the pieces floating around her.

Hamuko let out a pant from the shock of an immediate assault. Turning her head back to see the others, she felt another wash of relief to see that they had defeated the shadows around them too, with Junpei's sword piercing the mask of the last visible one.

Once the Shadow soon dissolved away as the mask shattered into mere dust, Junpei fell onto one knee, letting out a hiss though clenched teeth as he clutched his injured leg. Upon seeing his injury, Hamuko understood why; four cuts could be seen on his thigh, each one trickling blood down his skin right underneath his clothing. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it came from the shadow's grasp, which was a lot harsher than she initially thought.

"_Takeba, heal Iori's wound."_ The sudden sound of Mitsuru's voice made the two standing juniors jolt a bit, but only for a split second as Yukari took a grasp of her wrist watch, summoning Io in the same flash of bright blue light. Within the ox-shaped throne, the woman chained into it held up her hands, allowing a soft array of lights to wash over Junpei, and the cuts on his leg healed over in a matter of seconds. The capped junior managed to stand back on two feet afterwards, slightly astonished by how the dull pain in his leg was receding.

"Nice healing potential, but a slow startup." Shinjiro commented as a witness, making both Junpei and Yukari turn their heads back with a 'huh?'. The shaggy senior responded with a shake of his head to that before holding up his wrist with his own wristwatch on it.

"Takeba, if you keep clenching onto your watch like that, you'll be stuck with a two-second delay every time you invoke your Persona." He said sternly, like a teacher directing a student. "That's enough time to get fucked over by an attack ya didn't see coming."

Yukari nodded, but with her head mostly down. Hearing that she had only two seconds to react to something that could kill her definitely wasn't the best of news. She soon shivered a bit when a hand pattered her shoulder as Shinjiro walked past her.

"Think about your Persona and its ability; you'll get the hang of it." He remarked before walking up to the next hallway that the room led to, with Akihiko following him, and soon the other juniors, albeit in a more panicked run in the hopes of catching up to them.

Walking through another hallway, it was still empty, but the scratching sound still hadn't diminished, leaving the Hamuko a touch on edge. Looking in front, she saw Akihiko walking at the very front, his ears still straight up and twitching now and then.

Once the hallway continued to the right, the large wolf came to a stop, his ears perked right up.

"Stay back!" He snarled out as he stood in front of everyone else, his teeth coming into sight now. Before anyone could ask why, the sound of a finger snap filled the vacant halls, and a huge fireball came plummeting towards him from the hallway to the right.

An explosive flash of fire and light almost immediately blinded everyone standing to the side of the giant wolf, feeling the immense heat wash over them alongside the smoke in the air. Once the harsh light from the flames began to die away, the juniors' sight began to return, they only saw a cloud of smoke where Akihiko stood, and soon felt a pang of dread drop in their stomachs.

When the smoke dissipated, the wolf stood right where he was without so much as a singe on his fur. Instead, an azure glow came from his right ankle, and a knight stood right in front of him, adorned in armor white as snow, and shielding himself with a large mantle made purely out of fur.

The sharp pair of wolf eyes dilated as his growl immediately grew, and the knight in front of him lifted its cloak to reveal the massive broadsword embedded into his right hand. Akihiko took right off down the hall with the figure floating right above him all the way, before lunging and skewering a Shadow in the form of an enlarged white hand with the same blue porcelain mask atop what could be considered a head.

With that, the Shadow split right into two at the center before disintegrating into goop, all the while the juniors looked in awe from one side of the wall at their lupine senpai in battle.

Akihiko let out a confident snort, and turned back to the rest of the group as the figure above him faded out of sight. Before he could meet up with the group though, a shrill caw echoed from up above, and quick black blurs dashed across the hallway, once of which struck Akihiko right at the eyes, causing beads of crimson to fall from the fresh gashes on his face.

"Fuck! These bastards can sneak attack now!?" Shinjiro spat out while holding his axe up to fend off the gargantuan ravens that came into sight now, each one having a red skull-shaped mask on its torso. "Hold on, I'll get rid o-"

"Wait!" Junpei yelled out, squeezing through the space between Shinjiro and the wall with his wristwatch glowing brightly. "Persona!" In a burst of blue light, an armored figure came into sight above Junpei, garnished in black leather and golden armor, and creating a blaze of cerulean in its hands. It then tossed it like a baseball at the ravens, where it immediately burned them on contact into mere ash. Looking down the hall to the right, where another Shadow was still attacking Akihiko, the figure opened up its bladed wings and shot right through the air above the wolf. A slice cut through the labyrinth's oppressive air, and the wings of the Shadow fell right to the ground, with a limp body cut into two.

When all of the Shadows were finished off, a wavering laugh left Junpei's throat from the sight of what his Persona could do.

"Haha… that…that was awesome!" He blurted out as his laugh only grew. That is, until the butt of Shinjiro's axe nailed him right on the back of the head, changing his laughter into a shout of immediate pain.

"Only if by awesome you mean freakin' stupid!" The senior yelled straight into his ear with a facial expression that has 'pissed off' written all over it. "If those birds weren't weak to fire, you'd have gotten your eyes pecked out by now!"

"Agh! But Senpai!" Junpei shouted back, rubbing his ears in the process while being convinced that they were ringing right now. "It turned out fine, didn't it? Isn't that what matters?"

Junpei looked at Yukari and Hamuko, hoping to get some backup from the fellow juniors, but only saw them look away with slight discomfort. He then looked back at Akihiko instead, but soon flinched back from the silver eyes that glared at him like daggers, accompanied by the bloody claw marks on his face.

"_We'll discuss your irrational behavior another time Iori." _Mitsuru remarked with a sullen tone of voice_. "For now, find the access point and return to the entrance."_

"Of course Senpai." Hamuko answered as Yukari summoned Io again to tend to Akihiko's wounds, and much to her luck, discovered something resembling a warp pad like the one she saw at the entrance. She stepped right into it, causing a bright green light to radiate from both the warp pad, and the wristwatch she wore. The light soon enveloped every member of S.E.E.S. in the dungeon, and appeared to have disappeared out of sight.

* * *

Hamuko shook her head a bit once she got her bearings back, hoping that she didn't lose a molecule or two along the way. When she opened her eyes, she saw the interior of the first room they entered, with all of her comrades standing by Tenshi, Kimiko, and Mitsuru.

"Welcome back everyone." Mitsuru said to everyone. "How was your first exploration?"

"What do you want me to say, that I had a total blast nearly getting chopped up by living piles of goop?" Hamuko retorted with furrowed eyebrows, getting a chuckle out of both the scarlet-haired senpai and her mother.

"Well, glad to see that you managed to retain your sense of humor Arisato." Tenshi commented, all the while Kimiko was busy analyzing her two boys for any scratches still left from the labyrinth, ignoring the embarrassed look on Akihiko's face in the process.

"But…man, I didn't know I had that power in me…" Junpei muttered, holding one hand over his chest, only to be met by a few glares, making his eyes widen with one step backward. "W-what…?"

"Tch…" Shinjiro let out, and looked away, as did everyone else. It wasn't hard for Hamuko to know that most of the group was rather disappointed with the newest recruit right now.

Hamuko felt a few butterflies flutter in her stomach from seeing Junpei's grimace as he looked off to the side; would she be able to be an effective leader at this rate?

* * *

_**Sharkie's Notes: ** __MOTHER OF VISHNU AND GAUTAMA BUDDHA I FINALLY FINISHED THE LONGEST CHAPTER YET. *flops*_

_But on the flip side, thankfully pushed away most of the beginning exposition now, along with the recruitment of Da Man Junpei and showing off Wolf Akihiko. Gotta say, it was actually really interesting to write Junpei being legitimately afraid, and realizing how that factored into how relatable he actually is._

_Anyways, enough of my blabbering, hope you like this chapter. Reigns go back to Starwing now, so look forward to her awesome writing while I take a quick nap... *faints and starts snoring already*_

**_Tori's Notes:_**_ *buried in coursework and animation cells* Death by papercuts suck. X.X _

_But yes, here's chapter three. Pretty straightforward, this chapter was. Next chapter will have more interaction with the slightly more normal portion of Gekkoukan and Iwatodai. _

_Also Kimiko is best mom; her only power is the great level of sass she possesses to keep her sons in line._


	4. Long Days Passing By the Door

Hamuko was certain the only reason she woke up the morning following the first Tartarus run was due to the pleasant smell of blueberry pancakes tickling her nose. After getting dressed and grabbing her school bag, the pink-haired girl wandered down to the first floor, sighing in relief when she saw that she wasn't hallucinating; Kimiko was cooking, a stack of the pancakes that had called to Hamuko sitting on a plate on the counter.

Junpei was at the table, head down and groaning quietly. "I slept like a rock and _damn _I'm still wiped …" He groaned, seemingly oblivious to Hamuko's presence as she sat down nearby.

"You're not the only one, Junpei-kun." She commented, making the other junior jerk upright in his seat; he had dark circles starting to form around his eyes, not that Hamuko could blame him. "Every part of my body is screaming at me in pain, and I'm tired … It's gonna be a miracle I don't fall asleep in Ekoda-sensei's class."

"Tell me about it." Junpei groaned in agreement, leaning backwards in his chair. "Yuka-tan seemed just as tired, but she still took off a while ago because she had archery club. And the senpai didn't seem to notice a damn thing about how late we were up last night!"

"It's just a side effect of the Dark Hour." Kimiko's reassuring statement made the two of them look up as the woman approached them, carrying two plates piled high with pancakes and bacon. Giving the food to the juniors, she let out a smile. "Your bodies aren't used to being awake during that time paradox yet, so with that on top of running around swinging sharp objects, it's not a shock that you two are fatigued." The woman's smile softened a bit. "Don't worry though; before you know it, you'll be adjusted to it."

Hamuko gave Kimiko a grateful smile as she took a bite of the food, giving the woman a nod of thanks when she handed over glasses of orange juice as well. "Where's everyone else?" She asked after a moment. "I know Junpei-kun said Yukari-san had archery club, but where's the senpai?"

"They left early." Kimiko let out a soft sigh. "Mitsuru had some stuff to take care of beforehand, Aki went on a jog before class, and Shinji's helping out a friend of his." Hamuko arched an eyebrow at the last part of the statement; the way Kimiko had said 'friend' was oddly concerned. If it was for Shinjiro's safety or his 'friend', the pink-haired girl couldn't tell.

"JOGGING?" Junpei shook his head. "I mean, I know Akihiko-senpai's a bit of a fitness nut, but damn … how does he have that much stamina?"

"I figure being a wolf demon has a hand in that." Hamuko commented as she finished her pancakes, the deadpan in her voice earning a laugh from Kimiko.

"Trust me, he was worse as a puppy." She chuckled, pale green eyes amused. "Having to look after him along with my other two boys was a workout, I'll say that much." After shaking her head, Kimiko gave a nod. "But really, Junpei, don't feel bad because you're tired after your first night active in the Dark Hour; it takes the body a while to get a grip on it. How long depends on the person in question."

At that, Hamuko paused, tilting her head to one side. "Kimiko-san, do you have a Persona?" She asked, earning stares from Junpei and Kimiko. "W-well, from the way Kirijo-san was putting it, the only people awake in the Dark Hour are those with the Potential for Personae, and those who don't have it are the ones the Shadows prey upon."

"Oddly enough, no." Kimiko gave a shake of her head. "Trust me, it's puzzled Tenshi before too; she wagers the only reason I haven't been targeted by the Shadows is because I'm around active Persona users in the Dark Hour, so I'm not considered an easy target. How I'm active in the Dark Hour's the real mystery too." At that, she gave a weak laugh. "My husband and my sons are all capable of fighting, but I'm here to make sure you guys have someone to come talk to if you're having problems."

"N-nothing wrong with that." Junpei's hurried comment made Hamuko look at him, arching an eyebrow; there was something in the lanky teen's eyes that seemed pained. "Heck, I'd honestly be scared of the senpai otherwise. I have a feeling they'd be less sociable if you weren't around."

"Aww, aren't you sweet, Junpei." Kimiko's smile could have brightened a room. "I'd have to agree with you though; Aki and Mitsuru have poor people skills, and a lot of people notice Shinji's bark before anything else." While the two juniors laughed at her comments, the woman had pulled on her watch again, opening it with a button press. "Oh dear; you two really should get out the door, or you'll miss the train to school." She commented as she read the time, brows furrowed in worry. Junpei responded to her statement by letting out a panicked noise, rushing upstairs to get his backpack.

Hamuko shook her head as she stood up, grabbing her school bag. "Thanks for breakfast, Kimiko-san." She said with a sweet smile, sighing. "… I hope nobody's agitated with me failing at being the 'leader' last night …" the pink-haired girl looked down at the table at that, red eyes studying the wood grain.

Kimiko's hand patting her shoulder made her blink. "You did fine, especially for your very first run in the tower." The woman reassured her, eyes soft. "It's a learning experience, and I'm sure Tenshi or Mitsuru could tell you that it took them a while to have the sort of presence they do." At that, Kimiko winked. "Besides, you impressed the boys when you took control with the fight against the dragon; once you get adjusted to the Dark Hour proper and the general feel for Tartarus, I'm confident that you'll be fine."

A lump was starting to rise up in Hamuko's throat to accompany the blush that had started to stain her cheeks. "But I had no idea how to handle Junpei …"

"Well, I will admit that he was incredibly reckless." Kimiko let out a sigh. "That's no fault of your own; he seems to be really headstrong. I just hope he calms down a bit though. Charging headlong into battle like that could cost lives …" Shaking her head, Kimiko reached up and patted both of Hamuko's cheeks. "Now buck up and stop worrying, okay? Your secret admirers would be upset to see you so down in the dumps."

The comment had its intended effect, making Hamuko's face go scarlet as she looked at Kimiko. "I – I don't have secret admirers!" She squeaked. "I just MOVED here!"

"Ah but you should act like you do." Kimiko winked, turning Hamuko around and nudging her towards the front door. "Every girl should act like that; it's quite the confidence booster~" Still bright red and a bit flustered, Hamuko gave the woman a shy smile.

"… Thanks, Kimiko-san." She mumbled, heading towards the door.

"Don't be shy with talking to me, okay?" the blonde woman smiled. "That's what I'm here for, after all." She waved as she talked, only to start laughing as Junpei bolted past her to catch up with Hamuko, a granola bar hanging out of his mouth. "Junpei, you're not late yet! You can eat that like a regular person." She teased as the two juniors left the dorms, in better spirits than they had been upon first rolling out of bed.

* * *

The first surprise of the day had been an assembly about Student Council elections; they had apparently gone on while Hamuko had been hospitalized. What didn't surprise Hamuko was that Mitsuru had won the spot for President, and she was certain that she would have appreciated the redhead's acceptance speech more if she hadn't been trading off turns elbowing Junpei with Yukari. The two girls had purposely seated themselves on either side of him so they could keep him from snoring when he nodded off.

"I think you two bruised my ribs." Junpei complained to them come lunchtime, pouting as he took a drink of the pop in his bento.

"Would you have rather gotten lectured by a teacher for snoring?" Yukari countered with a point of her chopsticks, a bowl of Kyoto style tanuki soba on her desk. "Ekoda-sensei in particular is rather anal about that, especially with your track record for falling asleep in class as it is, Junpei."

"You should have seen him react to my hair color." Hamuko sighed, her bento already half-eaten. She had sprung for a larger one than normal, and was glad for that; fighting in the Dark Hour seemed to burn up a lot of calories. "I'm almost scared to wonder how he would have reacted to Minato-nii's hair." She shook her head at the thought, ignoring the knife in her heart at the mention of her deceased twin brother.

"Wai- you have a brother?!" Shock spread over Junpei's face, only to change to a wince when he saw Hamuko look down quietly. "Oh … damn, sorry about that …" He apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I can't keep my foot out of my mouth, can I?" Yukari rolled her eyes with a mutter of 'Stupei' before giving Hamuko a quiet smile.

"Did he have your hair color?" She asked gently, making Hamuko shake her head.

"Nope; sapphire blue." Pulling out her wallet as she spoke, the pink-haired girl opened it up to the family portrait she kept on her at all times to show to her fellow juniors. "See?" A small giggle escaped her; the picture had been taken a few months before the accident, so she and Minato were about six. Two little children with improbable hair colors being held by their parents, their mother being the one Minato had gotten his blue hair from. Their platinum haired father had a wide smile over his face while supporting Hamuko on his hip with one arm, the other one wrapped around his wife's waist as she balanced Minato on her shoulders.

"Wow …" Yukari's voice was hushed. "You guys looked really close. And your mom was gorgeous." Junpei nodded his agreement, that odd expression back in his eyes. "Yeah, Ekoda-sensei probably would have an aneurism trying to wrap his brain around your brother and mom's blue hair."

"It would've been funny as hell to watch though." Junpei chuckled, before nodding at the girls. "But I was wondering … did either of you two want to swing by Hagakure after school today? I dunno if Hamu-tan's ever been in there before."

"Thanks, but I'll pass." Yukari shook her head. "We've got a meet a few cities over after school, and I promised Akemi-senpai I'd help her make sure all the targets and such are loaded up." At that, she grimaced. "Plus there's so many calories in the ramen bowls at Hagakure …"

"Yukari-san and the senpai showed me where Hagakure is, but we didn't go in there to eat." Hamuko laughed after a moment. "Shinjiro-senpai had to drag Akihiko-senpai away by his scarf and remind him that he'd left his wallet at the dorms." Junpei and Yukari both laughed at that, the latter shaking her head in amusement as she did so. "So yeah, I wouldn't mind going to Hagakure after school, Junpei-kun."

"Awesome!" Junpei laughed after a moment, shaking his head. "Consider it a belated treat to welcome you to the school, from one transfer student to another." Hamuko giggled at that, making Yukari roll her eyes in amusement. The thought of being treated to ramen kept Hamuko awake through the rest of the school day, and she and Junpei were chatting happily as they left school through the main gate.

When a high pitched shriek rang in the air, however, both juniors froze and started rubbing their ears. "What the hell?!" Junpei shouted, shaking his head. "My ears are ringing; who the hell is freakin out?"

His question was answered when a herd of girls swarmed towards them, a familiar head of silver hair in the middle of them. Hamuko couldn't help but wince as she watched Akihiko try to extract himself from the mob around him; if that loud burst of squeals had hurt _her _ears, she couldn't begin to imagine what sort of pain it was causing the half demon.

Akihiko finally managed to escape, trotting over to where Hamuko and Junpei were standing. "Ah good, found you two." He gave a nod, slinging his uniform blazer and book bag over his right shoulder. The herd of fangirls stayed where they were, watching him with starry eyes. Akihiko ignored them in favor of talking. "Can you two meet me at Paulownia Mall?"

To Hamuko's dread, the fangirls seemed to hear that, and she felt their gaze land on her at once in a wrathful Gorgon's stare. Wanting to shrink and hide behind one of the two boys present, the pink-haired girl watched in shock as Akihiko appeared to notice the shift, as he turned around and gave the herd of girls a glare that matched theirs. She could faintly hear him growling lowly in his throat as well.

It seemed to work, if the way the fangirls jerked back in surprise at his sudden action was any indication. While they remained and whispered to themselves, the silver-haired senior turned back to the other two, losing the glare as he dropped his voice down low. "Shinji and I wanted to take Iori to meet Kurosawa, since he wasn't with us when we gave you the grand tour." He explained, nodding at the cap-wearing senior.

"B-but Hamu-tan and I were gonna go to Hagakure…" Junpei sounded despondent, starting to pout.

"Meeting Kurosawa won't take up the full afternoon." Akihiko countered, chuckling. "Besides, Hagakure sounds good. I'm sure I can talk Shinji into treating you guys as a welcome to SEES." The silver-haired senior seemed to miss the angry look Junpei gave him as he chuckled. "Shinji's actually headed there already, so he'll meet us there."

"And the … girls?" Junpei asked after another moment, making a vague gesture in the direction of the herd of fangirls. Akihiko made a face that looked like he had bitten into a lemon.

"I don't even know their names." He stated flatly. "Besides, they're always giving me a headache." Groaning, Akihiko gave a nod, heading towards the gates again. "I'll see you guys there." Not giving either Junpei or Hamuko a chance to react, the silver-haired senior walked off of the school campus, leaving the girls simpering after him.

"Why does he always act so cold?" One of them whined. "He doesn't have to be such a lone wolf all the time."

"But that's what makes him so cool~" A second one sighed, a sentiment several other girls in the group shared as they dreamily stared after Akihiko for several moments. Junpei gave them a bizarre look before dragging Hamuko off and through a different part of the gates.

"He doesn't even know their names?" He muttered, shaking his head. "You don't see girls swarm like that on TV!" Pausing for a moment, the cap-wearing teen frowned. "I do get why they'd cause him headaches though; those shrieks were shrill to _me _and I'm not part wolf demon." Hamuko nodded her agreement before letting a silence settle over them. It lasted for about fifteen minutes before Junpei began scratching his chin. "But wait … he's technically the last of his kind, right? You'd think he'd spring for a harem to have a better chance of bringing back the wolves …"

"Probably doesn't want to deal with them screeching at him all the time _or _risk stupid puppies." Hamuko countered, shrugging. She hadn't liked the looks the fangirls had given her just from being around Akihiko, and she was certain she had picked up a comment about her appearance at some point in their mutterings. Junpei's laughter at her comment about stupid puppies distracted her from that, however, and she gave him a grin. "Besides, I can see him beating your ass for suggesting a harem-end, so I wouldn't bring it up around him."

"Yeah, I really don't want the Golden Boy caving my face in …" Junpei groaned. "But what do you think Shinjiro-senpai was doin at the mall? You'd think he would have been here to help bail out Akihiko-senpai."

"Running errands?" Hamuko shrugged, not having any other ideas. Junpei gave an agreeing grunt, letting a second silence fall over them as they reached the mall. To their shock, the brunet senior was standing outside of Club Escapade, talking to a man larger than he was about something the two juniors couldn't quite hear. They watched the conversation for a few moments before the large man gave a nod and clapped Shinjiro on the shoulder before heading back into the club, Shinjiro waving to someone inside the building before turning around and spotting the two juniors.

"Oh good, Aki got to you two." He commented as he approached, hands going into his blazer's pockets. "C'mon; time to introduce Iori to the Watchdog." Hamuko giggled a bit at Shinjiro's term for the police officer, following the brunet senior and Junpei to the police station that rested near the karaoke bar in the mall. She stopped outside the door to the police station, her eyes catching a blue glow down the hall.

'You have _got _to be kidding me.' She thought to herself, leaning over to peer down the hallway. Like she had thought, a door to the Velvet Room stood there, letting out a blue glow against the white walls around it. 'Well, at least I can get in there without having to wait for Tartarus to roll around.' Hamuko told herself before heading inside the police station.

Akihiko was introducing Junpei to Kurosawa and explaining that the gruff looking officer was the weapons dealer for SEES. Curious, Hamuko turned to Shinjiro. "What does Akihiko-senpai mean by Kurosawa helping him out?" She asked, perplexed. Shinjiro gave a shrug, frowning a bit.

"Couldn't tell ya." He admitted, sighing. "I'm on his watch list though, but that's from me settling … disputes with the punks that like to hang about places like this." Seeing the shocked look the pink-haired girl was giving him, Shinjiro shrugged again, a faint tint of pink to his cheeks. "What? I don't like people who think hanging out in back alleys and picking on stray animals is 'punk'."

'This is one of those times where I'm confused as to how he's related to Kimiko-san …' Hamuko thought to herself. 'Then again, she mentioned her husband today at breakfast … maybe Shinji takes after him?' The thought made her blink; where _was _Shinjiro's father? He wasn't at the dorms at all, but from the way Kimiko had mentioned him, he was still alive and well. 'I don't think it's polite to ask though…'

Fortunately, her thoughts were interrupted by Junpei jumping back and yelping. When she looked up, Hamuko grinned as she saw why; Kurosawa had revealed where he stored the weapons he sold to the group, the cap-wearing teen staring wide-eyed at the collection like he'd walked into a video game's armory.

The capped teen's awe remained even at Hagakure, the group of four students seated at a booth near the window. Hamuko had started to drool at the sight of the Hagakure Bowl in the menu, amusing the senpai and earning a strange stare from Junpei. Akihiko had ordered a Hagakure Bowl himself, with Shinjiro getting a bowl of pork and tofu ramen, and Junpei ordering a chunky beef and broccoli bowl.

"The sports clubs will be starting to accept new members tomorrow." Akihiko commented casually while they were waiting for their food, playing with the straw to his glass of water. "Either of you two on any teams?"

"Eh, I used to be on the junior baseball team in grade school." Junpei shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "Stopped in seventh grade, and I haven't really been bothered to get back in. probably don't have the grades for it either right now." Hamuko gave him a curious look before shrugging her shoulders as well.

"I alternated years with my different sets of grandparents growing up." She explained with a small smile. "So I was mostly homeschooled until I got accepted here at Gekkoukan. I do know how to swim and run track, though." Giving a glance at Shinjiro, she offered the brunet senior a soft smile. "What about you, Shinjiro-senpai?"

"No clubs for me." Shinjiro gave a casual shrug, "I play too rough; guess it's a side effect from wrestling with Aki when we were both little." Akihiko laughed and nodded his agreement, silver eyes amused. "Besides, I often do errand runs for Ma when I'm done with school, or I'm heading back to the dorms to cook so she can do some of the cleaning." He jerked his thumb at Akihiko. "Fuzzbutt here's on the boxing team."

Akihiko rolled his eyes and pretended to bite Shinjiro's thumb – revealing teeth that were clearly too sharp to be human – before nodding at Hamuko with an easy smile. "Well, Gekkoukan does have a co-ed swim team. It was originally just a boy's swim team, but the student council manage to get the paperwork through for a girl's swim team when we were in ninth grade." He offered, propping his elbows on the table. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to join a club though; it'll keep you active on nights where we don't go to Tartarus, and it'll help you make more friends around Gekkoukan."

"Yeah, hanging out with us weirdos can wear on a person's sanity." Shinjiro chuckled, looking up when their bowls of ramen were called out as done. "Oh, there's food." Chuckling a bit when the two Hagakure Bowls were set in front of Akihiko and Hamuko, the brunet broke his chopsticks and nudged Akihiko playfully. "No racing Arisato, okay? Ma knocked manners into your head after all." Akihiko elbowed him back in return before tucking into his bowl, the tough pieces of meat seemingly nothing for him to bite through.

Hamuko looked down at the Hagakure Bowl in front of her. It was a large bowl of ramen stacked high with meat, veggies, and – to her great amusement – little uzumaki cakes with the Hagakure logo on them. The smell that wafted up from the broth was enticing, and she squealed with delight when she first started to eat it. "This tastes so good~" She squealed, happily eating while doing her best to be neat about it. "I feel like I'm eating something that Grandmama Sumi'd cook for dinner~"

"Calm yourself, Arisato, there's kids here." Akihiko chuckled after a moment, silver eyes amused. Hamuko responded on instinct, kicking him in the leg under the table, before realizing that was probably a stupid idea and blushed. To her relief, the silver-haired senior just laughed and gave her a light kick back, still eating his bowl of food.

"Heh, Aki's not the type of dog to get into alpha squabbles, Arisato." Shinjiro chuckled as well, being much neater with his own bowl. "Ma and Pops made sure he got past that stage real fast." Akihiko responded by elbowing his adopted brother again, noodles hanging from his mouth.

Unable to resist giggling, Hamuko glanced over at Junpei, who had gone quiet when his bowl had arrived. Not shockingly, the third teenage boy was busy eating … just with much less grace than the senpai. Hamuko shook her head after a moment – he was eating fast as well – before going back to the Hagakure Bowl.

She was pouting ten minutes later when it was all gone, ruby eyes disappointed. "I thought there was still plenty more …" She pouted. Pushing her empty bowl to one side, she blushed when she realized Junpei was the one staring at her like she had grown a second head. "W-what?" Hamuko squeaked, blushing.

"… Where do you put it all?" Junpei whispered in awe. Akihiko and Shinjiro didn't seem as shocked, the latter also done with his bowl. Junpei had been finished for about five minutes, wiping off some of the sauce from the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand. Akihiko was still eating, and Hamuko didn't doubt that trying to pull his bowl away would get a snarl or two.

"I've always been a big eater." She gave a weak laugh. "Grandmama Sumi says it's a family thing; Grandpapa Ryuu eats a lot too, Mom and Auntie to a lesser degree." Seeing the looks she was getting, Hamuko nodded. "My Aunt Misaki is a news anchor in Osaka; I've just always called her Auntie."

"Hehe, family can be crazy, I know that feeling." Shinjiro chuckled, shaking his head. "But at least Ma and I don't have to worry about you two trying to skip meals; she had to get on Takeba's case for a little bit back when she first moved into the dorms." Hamuko was a bit unsettled to realize she wasn't too surprised to hear that; friendly with her or not, the other girl did seem to be high up on the school's pecking order, where such things were more commonplace due to peer pressure.

"And you do need a lot of calories to keep your strength up." Akihiko commented as he finished his bowl, licking his lips. "Especially with you two just starting out in the Dark Hour; Mom normally prepares a good-sized meal before we do runs just to keep us from passing out halfway through the night."

"Correction, fuzzy; _you _would raid the fridge because shifting takes up a lot of energy." Shinjiro rolled his eyes, poking Akihiko in the face. "It's a good thing the lot of us get paid for this shadow-slaying nonsense, or else Ma'd go grey worrying about the grocery bill."

"… Wait we get paid?" the two juniors chorused as one.

"Yup; you two should probably be getting your first ones next Sunday." Akihiko answered after pretending to bite Shinjiro's finger again. "It's actually a good-sized amount for what we're doing, so you're not going to be hurting for money." The silver-haired senior let out a chuckle at the two junior's continued look of shock. "What? Did you really think they'd be asking you to risk your lives fighting and _not _pay you?"

"You've never played an RPG, have you, Akihiko-senpai?" Junpei's deadpan comment sent both Hamuko and Shinjiro into a fit of laughter.

* * *

The next day of school found Hamuko following Yukari to the practice building after classes were done, curious as to what the swimming team was like. The pink-clad girl didn't have archery club, but had volunteered to stay at the pool for the first half-hour or so to make sure Hamuko managed to talk with the club manager.

A heavy wafting smell of chlorine washed over the two girls, making Hamuko sigh in relief at the familiarity of the scent. The boy's team could be seen at one end of the pool, doing stretches before jumping into the water. She couldn't see the girl's team, but another glance showed a couple of girls near one side of the pool talking. One of them wore the gym class jersey, while the other one had a school regulated swimsuit on. "Ah!" Smiling, Hamuko walked over, making the other two girls look up at her approach.

The girl in the jersey had darker skin, like she had come from a more southern part of Japan, but seemed friendly enough, dark hair tied up in a shorter, spikier high ponytail than Hamuko's. Her companion struck the pink-haired girl as being the type of warrior woman that was always presented in action movies, with her long hair up in a high ponytail and stronger build than most teenage girls their age.

"Ah, hello." The dark-skinned girl greeted her, voice polite. "Are you here to join the swim team?" Hamuko's enthusiastic nod made her smile, and she chuckled. "Well, that's a relief! Some of our team members graduated last year, so we've been wondering if anybody else would join the girl's team …" Shaking her head, she nodded at Hamuko. "I'm Nishiwaki Yuko; I'm the team manager for both swim teams."

"I'm Iwasaki Rio." The girl in the swimsuit gave a bow when Hamuko turned to her. "I'm on the girl's team as well."

"Arisato Hamuko, at your service." Hamuko giggled as she gave a polite bow of introduction in return to the other two girls greeting her.

"Oh, you're the transfer student; I was wondering why I didn't recognize you." Yuko gave a weak laugh at that, giving Hamuko a quick apology. "Well, since it's just your first day, why don't you observe? That'll give us time to get you a school-regulated swimsuit and such."

"Hey, Yuko!" A male voice called out, making Hamuko jump a bit, blinking when one of the boys from the swim team ran over. He wore a pair of blue swim trunks with the Gekkoukan emblem on the left side, and a pair of goggles resting on top of his short black hair. "Some of the guys needed to ask you a couple things." Yuko let out a groan, annoyance obvious in her tone.

"I swear, if it's about the swimsuits, I'm gonna hit someone." Hitting herself with her clipboard, Yuko nodded at Hamuko. "Alright then, Kaz, you and Rio give Hamuko-san here the rundown for how club works. She'll be joining the girl's tealm." The now-named Kaz turned to Hamuko and gave her an easy grin, nodding to Yuko as she darted off.

"Well, hello there. I'm Miyamoto Kazushi, but everyone just calls me Kaz." He greeted Hamuko, voice still friendly in spite of his semi-serious tone. After Hamuko gave him her name in return, he chuckled. "Ah yeah, we're in the same class; I sit closer to the back though. It was kinda funny watching you and Takeba-san keep Junpei from nodding off during the assembly yesterday."

"He snores like a broken bandsaw." Hamuko deadpanned, making both Rio and Kaz laugh.

"Well, it's always nice when someone with a sense of humor joins up." Rio smiled after she was done laughing, hands going to her hips. She glanced behind her as a door to the locker rooms opened up, and a group of other girls walked out of the showers in their suits – they were the same color as Rio's, the Gekkoukan emblem on the left side of the chest – laughing and talking together. "Hey, girls, we've got a new member!" She called out, beckoning them over. "Come say hi to Hamuko-san."

The other girls seemed surprised, but to Hamuko's relief, they trotted over to come say hi. A few of them complimented her on her hair, asking how she had dyed it so well. Finally getting annoyed with the question, Hamuko quickly pulled her cell phone out and turned it around to show the image she used for a background.

It was a simple one; her and her grandmother Sakura had been shopping when they had spotted a photo booth, playfully scooting inside to take some cute pictures. The one odd thing was the fact that both of them had bright pink hair, even if the elder woman's was starting to turn white with age.

"It's. Natural." Hamuko deadpanned, rubbing her forehead at the great amount of stares the image got – even Kaz was leaning over to look at the phone's screen. "I mean, I'm glad you guys like how it looks, but I've gotten so many teachers angry at me throughout my life because they think I dye it. It just gets frustrating after a while."

"Heh, yeah, I can see where that would be frustrating." Rio gave a nod, chuckling with a wry smile. "But I'm glad you didn't fly off the handle with us when you explained it. There's some people at this school who get quite angry for no real reason."

"Like the creepers who used to come to meets." One of the other girls muttered. Even Kaz made a face, shaking his head with the girls as he turned to Hamuko again.

"But yeah, it's good to have you here; I promise nobody here in the club bites." He said with a nod, a smile crossing his face. Hamuko smiled back as she put her phone away, noticing Yukari had ducked out at some point. "And don't be afraid to hit any of the guys if they try anything; it'll probably hurt less than Yuko hitting them."

"If you say that to Yuko she'll hit you. **Again.**" Rio shook her head in amusement, pulling on the swim cap she had been holding in her hands. "C'mon, girls, we need to do some warm-ups!" The rest of the team let out a few moans, but nodded, heading over to the opposite end of the pool from the boys as Yuko walked back over to where Hamuko was standing, Kaz still there.

"Hehe, good to see the rest of the team came over to greet you." The manager said with a laugh, handing Hamuko the clipboard. "It's just the club roster; I have to update it whenever a new member joins, and run it to Kanou-sensei during club. It's how we get the swimsuits and such." Giving an understanding nod, Hamuko took the clipboard and signed her name.

"Club _normally _meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; we're just here today because we're trying to recruit new members." Kaz explained with a nod. "While you don't have to come to _every _club meeting, it's better to come as often as you can. The more practice you get, the better." Before Hamuko could reply, her classmate was jogging back over to the rest of the boy's team, ready to get in the water.

Yuko rolled her eyes. "Kaz is like that; you get used to it." Taking the clipboard back with a smile, she nodded to where the girls were warming up. "But yeah, go ahead and sit down to observe; don't be afraid to ask Rio or myself if you have any questions, okay?"

"Gotcha." Hamuko nodded, relaxing fully as she walked over to one of the chairs, smiling as she inhaled to calm her jittery nerves. She had gotten herself into a club without offending someone or needing to call in Yukari; she'd be fine.

* * *

Hamuko was positive she still smelt of chlorine when she left the pool, skipping all the way to the train station while singing along with her music. It got her many a strange look, but she ignored it, in too good of a mood to really be bothered by it. A couple of strangers on the train had complimented her singing, even comparing her to the up-and-coming pop star "Risette". While the flattery had made her blush, it only lifted her spirits further, and she was all smiles when she returned to the dorm.

"Hehe, well, it's nice to see you in a good mood." Kimiko called out, smiling as Hamuko trotted back to the kitchen. The dorm mother was clearly cooking dinner, her hair tied back in a pair of ponytails as she bustled about the kitchen. "You're just in time; dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes." The woman said with a smile, nodding at Hamuko. "Would you do me a favor? My boys are up on the roof; can you let them know dinner will be ready soon?"

"Sure." Nodding, Hamuko began to head upstairs, only to pause. "… Why are they on the roof?"

"Aki's spring coat is starting to grow in, and he's shedding." Kimiko groaned a bit. "He'd be getting fur _everywhere, _and Mitsuru wants to know if you'd be willing to do another Tartarus run tonight." Giving an understanding nod, Hamuko tapped her fingers against her chin.

"I'll think about it and let you guys know at dinner, is that alright?" She asked, to which Kimiko nodded. "Okay; I'll go get the senpai then." Trotting upstairs, Hamuko took a quick pit stop to drop off her book bag before heading up to the roof.

She was amused at the sight that greeted her; Akihiko, in wolf form, was sprawled out on the roof making what could only be described as 'unhappy wolf noises'. They weren't exactly growls, but weren't exactly whines either; they were very amusing to listen to, however. Shinjiro knelt beside him, running a brush through the silver fur in front of him.

"I hate spring …" Akihiko grumbled, still making his unhappy wolf noises.

"Oh hush; your spring coat will be here in May, and then the shedding will stop." Shinjiro shot back, bopping him on the nose with the back of the brush. "And even _then _you complain about the heat. Do you honestly think you'd be better off with your thick winter fur?" Akihiko grumbled something in reply, but Hamuko didn't hear it. The sight was still more than enough to make her giggle, catching the pair's attention. "Ah, hey Arisato." Shinjiro greeted. "You need us for some reason?"

"Your mother just asked me to let you guys know dinner's in twenty minutes." Hamuko explained, trotting over and kneeling next to him. "Not having a good day, huh, Akihiko-senpai."

"He's _always _a grouch when he starts shedding." Shinjiro muttered, resuming the brushing. "Not that I blame you, Aki, it would fuckin suck to have fur as thick as this in summer." Akihiko growled in agreement, sneezing as some of the loose fur flew in his face.

"Gah! Damn wind." He whined, a single silver eye focusing on Hamuko. "But did Mom let you know we were wondering about another Tartarus run?" He asked, an excited growl in his voice. Hamuko sighed a bit, shrugging weakly. "… Something wrong?" The wolf asked, lifting his head a fraction to look at her. Shinjiro didn't turn, preoccupied with the brushing, but Hamuko figured he was listening.

"I just don't feel like I did a good job leading the last time." She admitted, playing with the hem of her skirt. "Even looking past Junpei-kun being a reckless goof, I … well, I just didn't know how to react at first to what all was going on." Shinjiro gave a sympathetic noise, bopping Akihiko's hip with the brush for whatever reason. The wolf seemed to take it less as a hit and more as a cue, because his ears perked up a bit.

"Oh. I was wondering why you seemed quiet after we were done that night." The wolf gave a nod, silver eyes soft. "I just thought you were tired; should have asked if you were alright."

"It's okay, but … can I ask something?" Hamuko tilted her head to one side, drawing a breath when Akihiko nodded. "Why'd you pick me as the field leader?"

"You impressed me with the hydra fight." Akihiko explained, tail swishing back and forth. "No hesitation, no confusion; you just went into full commander mode when you had a grasp of what was going on. Not a lot of people can pull that off." Yawning, the silver beast licked his chops for a moment before continuing. "That, and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders; Takeba's easily spooked, Shinji and I have no real leadership skills, and Iori? Well … I think he's gonna run into a serious situation if he doesn't calm down here soon."

"I really hope not; I don't like it when my friends get hurt." Hamuko sighed, smiling a bit as she heard why she had been picked. A small part of her had been worried it was just a difficult choice between her and Junpei, but the silver-haired senpai's reasoning was sensible.

"Sad to say, but some people need a good bonk on the head before they start using it." Shinjiro commented bluntly, making Akihiko flinch. Confused, Hamuko turned to look at the brunet senior, who shocked her with a reassuring grin. "I'm not saying you should let him get badly injured, Arisato, just don't coddle him. He won't learn anything that way."

"Fair enough." Twirling some of her pink hair around a finger, Hamuko looked to the senpai. "Were you as nervous as I was when you first started out with S.E.E.S?"

"Hell yeah." Shinjiro laughed, Akihiko nodding with him. "Tussling with one another for fun is one thing, as is fighting in a sports tournament. Actually fighting for your life? It's fuckin scary, but you learn how to fight better to stay alive." Grey eyes saddened for some reason, Shinjiro stopping his brushing to rest his hands on Akihiko's back. "Our first year fighting Shadows was rough, believe me…" Akihiko gave a quiet nod, head briefly going to rest on his forelegs.

Sensing a delicate subject underfoot, Hamuko nodded and scanned her brain for a change in topic. "… Do you two do that riding stunt you did that first night often?" She finally asked, curious. "I mean, I've never seen anyone pull that off outside of anime. You two pulled it off without missing a beat."

"Shinji's aunt showed us _Mononoke-Hime _when we were seven." Akihiko started laughing, an odd sound to come out of a wolf's mouth. "We were both upset because I was too small to carry him at that age." Shinjiro was laughing with him now, brushing the large wolf once more. "Mitsuru even got him the mask out of the movie as a birthday gift."

"In other words, yeah, Aki and I pull that shit off a lot." The brunet nodded, grinning again. "It makes for faster patrols, although Mitsuru fell off the few times she tried to ride Aki's back as well. It's why she has a motorcycle."

"She has a _what?!" _Hamuko started laughing, not really all that surprised. A thought came to her, making her laugh even harder. "Oh man, you two should do that riding stunt in front of Junpei-kun; I want to get his reaction on camera somehow." Akihiko started laughing harder, Shinjiro opting to just shake his head instead as he finished up the brushing.

"There you go, fuzzy." He chuckled, a wry smile on his face as Akihiko jumped up and turned back into human form in a flicker of light. "Oh come on, it wasn't _that _bad Aki." Shinjiro teased, brushing silver fur off of his sweater as he stood up himself. "Katsu and Pops are rougher with the brush than I am."

"Katsuro tries to brush me again and I'm _gone." _Akihiko groaned, shaking his head as he shook his head a bit.

"Who …?" Hamuko asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Our older brother." Shinjiro replied, grinning. "He's in Tokyo right now, but knowing him, he might swing by later in the year for a birthday or something." Nodding in understanding, Hamuko remembered what she had been wondering about the day before, tapping a finger against her jawline.

"And your father?" She asked, genuinely curious. "I haven't seen him around the dorms at all, so I was just wondering where he was."

"He works security." Akihiko explained, done shaking himself down. "It's a job where he's away a lot of the time, but he should be back in town by early May." At that, he grinned. "Shinji's blunt nature will make perfect sense when you meat Dad." Shinjiro responded with a rude hand gesture, but Akihiko just laughed at it. "We both know I'm right, Shinji."

"Shove off, Fuzz-butt." Shinjiro shot back, and Hamuko couldn't help herself and started laughing, eyes bright. It was just too much fun to watch her two male senpai bicker, even if one of them was an immortal wolf demon and the other was a human. The whole feeling was just so natural to watch, it put her at ease, making her smile.

"Alright Tweedledee and Tweedledum," she interjected, making both of the male seniors look at her. Giggling and propping her hands on her hips, the pink-haired girl winked before continuing, "as much fun as listening to you two fight is, we should go downstairs and get dinner. We're gonna need our energy up for Tartarus tonight."

It should not have amused her so much to see Akihiko whoop like a small child at that.

* * *

Tartarus that night was interesting. After getting back up to where they had been the night before, the group of five had slowly climbed up the tower, stuck briefly on the fifth floor to let Yukari shoot down a particularly annoying group of vulture-like shadows that impeded their progress. They had picked up some rare items on the fifth floor as well, which had been given to Tenshi after a quick pit stop to the first floor before returning to the climb.

'Eurydice, Pixie, Asparas …' Hamuko thought to herself, scrolling through the three Personae she had obtained on her watch as they walked up the steps to the eighth floor. While she hadn't been too shocked to find out her evoker had a bonus status screen to show off her Persona's stats – to her amusement, Eurydice was weak to thunder despite her love of the rain – but realizing she could shuffle through the Personae on the watch was impressive.

"_Arisato, I hate to impose, but there is a second group of odd Shadows on the tenth floor." _Mitsuru spoke up as the group reached the eight floor, standing on the edge of the stairwell. _"Do you think you can make it up there to take care of it?" _Pausing for a moment, Hamuko checked her watch; the time showed up at 24.30, leaving them with a half-hour…

"Do the rest of you think we can run up to the tenth floor tonight and take care of the strange things in half-an-hour?" She asked the rest of the group, leaning against her naginata? "I'm still doing fine, but I'm gonna need a couple days off to recuperate if we do go up that far."

"Aki and I are fine." Shinjiro shrugged, leaning against the large silver wolf, who nodded his agreement. "Iori, Takeba?" turning to the other two juniors, Shinjiro arched an eyebrow. "Think you two can make it up there?"

"Yeah, I think I can." Yukari gave a weak nod, wincing as she flexed her hand and arm. "I'm a bit sore from taking out the vultures, though, so I might just stick to the back and heal, if that's okay." Hamuko gave the other girl a nod.

"Fair enough; you basically soloed those birds as it was." She laughed. "The rest of us just ran distraction … although I wish we had found out about Junpei-kun's wind weakness before that." Junpei muttered at that, rubbing his rear; the birds had noticed his weakness to wind before anyone else, and he wasn't quite as resilient to magic as the other members of S.E.E.S.

"My ass is still sore …" he muttered, before giving Hamuko a grin. "No worries about me, Hamu-tan; I'm pumped and ready to kick some Shadow butt! Nothing's gonna slow Junpei down!"

"Your sword does that enough, Stupei." Yukari shot back, earning an indignant noise from Junpei as Hamuko laughed before turning back to the hallway.

"Yeah, I think we can take care of it, Mitsuru-senpai. We're just gonna have to blaze through the next two floors."

"_I am aware." _Mitsuru gave a nod. _"Take care." _

" _Might I recommend splitting into groups?" _Tenshi's voice spoke up this time, calm. _"The senpai will be fine on their own, due to their experience fighting, but you three juniors should stick together. The Evokers have built in communicators, so you can contact one another when you find the stairs." _Hamuko nodded, turning to the male senpai.

"That might very well be our best bet. This floor doesn't seem to have many Shadows." She said, twirling her naginata absently.

"… You're right, there's not." Akihiko's lips drew back in a snarl, the silver wolf's hackles rising. "I don't like it; we should hurry."

"Then let's get a move on; I'll go right." Shinjiro cut off, darting down the right-hand passage before anyone could protest. Hamuko nodded and lead the way down the center hallway, Akihiko parting from the three juniors after a fork in the hallways came up. The silence was haunting, making the juniors footsteps echo in the gloom moreso than usual as they tried to figure out where to go.

Five minutes later, and they had found three treasure chests, but no stairs. Hamuko frowned and turned back towards the way they had come when Shinjiro's voice came over their watches. [Found the stairs; go straight down the hallway at the start of the floor and you'll hit it dead on.] He reported, voice calm. [The button for the communicator's the one on the right, for future reference. Aki'll just howl unless he's in human form though. He's loud.]

Nodding, Hamuko hit the button he talked about. "Gotcha senpai; we managed to find some stuff in briefcases on our end. Heading back that way now."

"Of _course _it was the hallway all the way at the start …" Junpei grumbled as they started jogging, taking up the rear as the three juniors started their job back. Hamuko didn't respond, ears intently listening in case something else tried to sneak up on them. Five minutes of running around an empty floor wasn't comforting her nerves, especially not after floors teeming with Shadows.

They had gotten to the room where Akihiko had split off from them when they heard a sudden burst of loud barking from somewhere to the right. Turning, Hamuko couldn't see anything, but the sound of Akihiko's snarling echoed in the gloom, getting closer to the group of juniors as they contemplated waiting for him.

The thought vanished when the distant sound of rattling chains hit their ears.

"… RUN!" Junpei shouted, Hamuko not bothering to yell at him for taking command; she would have said the exact same thing. Feeling adrenaline kick in, the pink-haired girl dashed, making sure yukari and Junpei were keeping pace with her. Akihiko's angry snarling and barking continued to follow them, and the silver wolf was behind them after a minute.

"I don't know what it is, but it's not something I want to stick around and try to fight." He said in between pants, keeping behind the juniors. "Just keep running and get to the stairs!" Hamuko nodded, somehow managing to pick up the pace in spite of carrying her naginata.

"Wha – good grief Hamu-tan, stop trying to fly on us!" Junpei shouted, barely able to keep pace as Yukari sped up as well. Akihiko snarled and picked the junior up by his uniform blazer, making the cap-wearing teen yelp as he was being carried in the wolf's mouth. "W-woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The ratting continued to chase them, and Shinjiro seemed to hear it as well; that was the only reason Hamuko wagered he didn't ask them why they were heading to him at a dead run. Hamuko and Yukari both crashed into him in an attempt to brake, panting as if their lungs were on fire. "C'mon, up the steps we go ..!" He shook his head, hauling both girls up the steps as if they weighed next to nothing, his axe resting at the top. Setting the girls down when they had reached the stair his axe was at, the trio looked up as Akihiko arrived, Junpei being unceremoniously dropped on the steps as the wolf raced up to them.

Not wanting to risk whatever was making that rattling noise to catch them, Hamuko hurried up the stairs, making a mental note not to take too long on an empty floor ever again.

She had also never been so relieved to catch sight of shadows in the distance than when she had reached the ninth floor.

Letting out a relieved sigh, the pink-haired girl sank to her knees for a moment to catch her breath, leaning against her naginata for support. "We … well, I might not have know what the _hell _that was, but I really don't want to find out …" she groaned, staggering upward after a moment. "Should have known this place wouldn't be so nice to give us a problem-free floor."

"If there's anything to learn from video games, it's that you NEVER get a break." Junpei panted out as well, rubbing the sweat from his brow. "If you _do _get a break, you have a reason to be suspicious about it." Yukari nodded her agreement, bracing her hands on her knees to catch her breath; even then, she seemed to be less winded than anybody but Shinjiro.

"Did we still want to try and take care of the next floor?" Akihiko asked, panting a bit. "I can clear us a path here; these guys on this floor aren't as vicious."

"Yeah, let's get rid of the nasties there, and then take a two-day break." Hamuko nodded, shaking her head. "This floor hopefully won't be as large as the last one." Junpei groaned out something about his legs feeling like jello, but he got up as well, adjusting his cap as the group filed behind the silver wolf, weapons ready anyway.

A few Shadows attacked, but very few of them got past Akihiko or his Persona – he had Pollux, one of the Gemini twins; Hamuko had asked him about it earlier in the run – and even those that did were simple enough for Eurydice to simply bash upside the head with her lyre. The stairs to the next floor took much shorter to find, prompting Hamuko to check her watch as they ascended the stairs to the tenth floor.

24.40.

"Twenty minutes to take care of whatever's on this floor." She said, nodding in relief. "Hopefully they won't be too hard to defeat."

"_There are only three Shadows in a group, Arisato." _Mitsuru spoke up, nodding. "_They shouldn't take too long if you're careful." _At that, the redhead paused. _"I informed mother about the strange Shadow on floor eight; she was most disturbed, but she won't say why. I think it's something she has to research at a later date."_

"Is Ma holdin up okay?" Shinjiro asked as the group walked forward, Hamuko making sure to activate the transporter before they went to face the three Shadows.

"_She was in a panic when you were being pursued, but she's calmed herself a bit." _Mitsuru's voice was gentle. _"Don't be surprised if she frets more than usual when you return." _Shinjiro's worried grimace at that made Hamuko blink a bit, but she didn't ponder it too much as the Shadows they were trying to take care of came into view.

It was three more of the hand-shaped Shadows, but a different coloration than the ones that prowled the floors normally. Their 'bodies' were a pink glove with a blue ring on the index finger, and they all reacted when the group got close enough. The first one unleashed an Agi spell, prompting Hamuko to summon Eurydice as the fireball neared her.

On cue, the marionette appeared, catching the fireball in her hands to keep it from hitting her summoner. Junpei and Akihiko took that second to rush in, attacking the two hands on the right as Yukari positioned herself in a harder to reach cranny, ready to heal when she was needed.

Looking through Eurydice's skill set, Hamuko blinked; a new one had appeared, a small chain connecting an image of Asparas to it. 'Cadenza?' She asked herself mentally, wondering what it would do. The thought was cut off as the third hand charged at her, making her yelp. The still present Eurydice responded by bringing her lyre down in an over-handed swing, scoring a direct hit on the Shadow. The attack seemed to visibly flatten the Shadow, embedding it into the ground with twitching fingers.

"Hehe, so they're weak to strike, eh?" Shinjiro's voice had taken on a dangerously eager tone, making Hamuko look at him as he strode forward. "Aki, get Iori and bail; I've got this." Akihiko let out a nod, leaping away from the Shadow he had been harassing as the familiar blue aura of a Persona picked up around the brunet. "Heh. Get fucked. Castor!"

Hamuko watched as the black knight that served as Shinjiro's Persona appeared, the skeletal horse it rode rearing with a loud neigh upon being summoned. Ghostly blue fire flared up to serve as a mane and tail as the horse leapt, the rider steering it to the Shadow Akihiko had abandoned. The strange pink creature didn't have time to dodge before the horse's large hooves were brought down onto it, crushing it with ease.

"Holy shit." Junpei's comment hit Hamuko's ears as she directed Eurydice to finish pounding the Shadow attacking her into paste, making her look up in time to see the rider half of Castor turn in his saddle as the third Shadow tried a sneak attack. The horse responded soon after, the rear hooves lashing out in a kick that sent the third one into a wall, where it splattered into red goo.

"… I reiterate. **Holy. Fucking. SHIT." **Junpei said again, his jaw on the floor as Castor evaporated into the air. "Like, seriously! That's the sort of overkill you see in online gaming tournaments!" Shinjiro chuckled, shrugging a bit as the group convened in the center floor.

"As I've said before, I play rough." The brunet senior replied, giving the juniors a grin that was every bit as wolfish as one of Akihiko's. Hamuko just nodded, equally awestruck as she turned back to Yukari; the other girl was just as stunned, hazel eyes wide as she came out of her hiding spot to make sure nobody had gotten injured.

Picking her jaw up off of the ground herself, the pink-haired girl nodded. "Thanks, Shinjiro-senpai. You were incredible." She smiled, resisting the urge to giggle when the brunet senior scoffed and blushed a fraction, turning away. Catching the stink eye Junpei was giving the senior from behind everyone's backs, she decided that everyone was tired, and they should head back down. "Come on, let's get back to the dorms, okay?" she spoke up, nodding back to the transporter. "These floors seem to be stable, somehow; we can grab the loot when we come here next time." Her statement was meant with several nods, and she stood back to let everyone pass in front of her. to her concern, Junpei still seemed agitated by something, not looking at the pink-haired girl.

"They're not the only one who can be impressive …" He muttered, voice holding a level of poison in it. Hamuko watched his back with concern as they returned to the first floor, almost not noticing Kimiko as the woman rushed to them in concern.

* * *

**Started Social Links at this point**  
Fool  
Magician  
Emperor  
Lovers:  
Chariot  
Star  
Moon

* * *

_**Tori's Notes: **Spot the Puella Magi Madoka Magica reference and win a cookie. (there's actually two so far. ;D) _

_But yes, it was fun writing a less exposition-heavy chapter. While S.E.E.S is a fun group to get to know, it was fun to have Hamuko meet the sports team all at once, instead of having to pick Rio OR Kaz, since Shark and I happen to like them both. Same with Yuko, so we just opted to combine all three of them into one club for pure shenanigans and more character interaction._

_Also, in regards to Castor; since a horse and a rider, I figured it would be more interesting to split up which half gets what skills. Castor proper gets to execute Shinjiro's Slash skills with his lance, while the horse handles strike skills via painful stomps and kicks. Trust me, you **do not **want to get stomped on by a half-ton animal. _

_It's also fun trying to write Akihiko with a weird balance between his wolf youkai half and his human half. I've also left some foreshadowing sprinkled in throughout this chapter, but that's all the hints I'm giving~ Here's Shark's notes, and you'll have her for the next chapter. *evil laughter*_

_**Shark's Notes: **Ahhh lighthearted semi-filler chapters, how refreshing you can be after nothing but exposition packed chapters. *brickd*_

_But anyway, in case you're a bit confused about where the announcements of Social Links being formed are in this chapter, that's because we all decided on not featuring those in this story._

_The reasoning is all mine; when we were planning this story, I really didn't like the restrictions that the incredibly literal adaptation of Social Links caused because 1, it made the relationships a bit too static and number focused rather than feeling legitimately genuine, and 2, it was proving to be a pain in the ass to plan out all 10 events for EVERYONE. That's why I reasoned out to Starwing and Magnus to not make the Social Links as obvious in this fic as they have been in previous ones. The Links are still around though, and do have an impact as you'll find out later, but there aren't any spooky voices announcing a relationship getting stronger when you do so much as offer a tissue to someone so they can blow their nose._

_But anyway, hope you still enjoyed Tori's awesome writing. I'll be back in control next time, and having fun with it~ *evil laughter*_


	5. Golden Days and a Silver Serpent

It had been years since Hamuko had taken a swim, but once the pink-haired junior entered Gekkoukan's pool, almost all of her childhood memories of learning swimming strategies and movements came rushing right back to her. Even as she started a breaststroke down the pool, it didn't feel too different from the very first time she learned how to swim like that, when she was just a little kid laughing at the bombardment of puns that came from her Grandpapa Satoshi's mouth. It was just the right touch of nostalgia to make her first official day of the Swimming Club feel rigorous, but seriously fun.

"Glad to see you enjoying it already!" A familiar voice said to her side after Hamuko completed a few laps. When she turned her head to her right, she immediately saw a grinning Rio keeping herself afloat.

"Hehe, thanks Rio." Hamuko giggled, taking to leaning on the edge of the pool instead. "You're doing great yourself too. We're almost halfway done and you're still going at it a hundred and ten percent!" Her response made Rio blush a bit, and raise a hand up to her cheek from the flattery.

"Aww, you're too kind Hamuko-san." Rio stated with a kind smile. "I gotta say though, I didn't think there was a way for your eyes to get any redder."

Hamuko was a touch confused at first by what she meant, but soon remembered the fact that she didn't have a pair of swimming goggles, and swam right through the chlorine-doused water for today's session. Upon seeing the laugh Rio gave off in response, she pouted, and splashed some water in her general direction.

Rio's laughing only continued from that, which soon made Hamuko giggle a bit from it as well, and the two girls resumed their laps across the pool. For the most part, Hamuko managed to keep herself calm and focused on just the swimming, but every time she reached the pool's edge, the sound of several other girls on the team complaining reached her ears. After about two or three laps, Hamuko's curiosity hit the high point, and she turned her head to where she saw almost all of the other girls throwing their cavil right at Rio.

"Rio, what's with all of this work?" One the women whined. "It's like you're making us train for the finals, not just the first day!"

"Well, who says we aren't?" Rio spat back with a scowl, looking pretty dang irate with the other team members. "After all, who knows what we'd become capable of if we put our minds to it!" She clenched both of her hands into fists and regained her grin from before, but none of the other teenage girls seems to share Rio's get-up and go.

"You're the only one who cares about that kinda crap though…" One of them muttered with a grimace, while the rest of them stayed silent. To which the smile on Rio's face seemed to fade away, turning back into a frown.

The tension in the air was quickly becoming as thick as fog. When one of the girls threw a mean glare at Hamuko, she felt a sudden shiver go down her spine, and went right back to swimming so they'd think that she wasn't paying attention.

After a few laps though, the girls' side of the pool was outright deserted, with Rio now sitting on one of the bleachers right next to Yuko, and the rest of the girls were nowhere in sight. Along with that, Rio's head was slumped down, and her face was filled with noticeable disdain.

Hamuko got out of the water herself, using only the pool's edge, and picked up a few dry towels before sitting next to Rio and Yuko.

"Tough crowd huh?" Hamuko said sympathetically, wrapping a towel around Rio's shoulders. After Rio picked her head back up with a bit of surprise, she gave Hamuko a slightly astonished look.

"Hamuko-san, you're still here?" Rio asked, and was soon answered by a confident nod from the smiling pink-haired girl. While the response did lighten up the tight feeling in her chest from the conflict with rest of the team, she failed to notice the dark-skinned girl pouting right next to her.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Yuko stated with a small nudge on Rio's shoulder, making the long haired girl turn back at her with the same look of surprise that she had before, while Hamuko just started chuckling. In only a matter of seconds, the laughing seemed to spread to both Rio and Yuko, which lifted all of the girls by at least a little bit.

Since practice was essentially done for the girls' team, the three members remaining cooperated to finish up practice for the day, and soon circled up to each other by the bleachers when everything on their half of the pool was put away and tidied up.

"Wait, you three are still here?" A male voice asked out from the other side of the room. When the girls looked to see who it was, they say Kaz walking over to them, as briskly as he can without nearly slipping from the damp floor. "I thought all of the girls' team left early."

"Yeah, things didn't go so well with the rest of them…" Hamuko admitted as Yuko nodded in agreement. As they saw Kaz let out a weary sigh from hearing that bit of news, Rio's eyes looked back down to the ground once again in dismay.

"Did I really make the right choice when volunteering to lead the juniors in the swim team?" Rio muttered as she rested a hand on her bicep. Whether she was asking everyone around her, or just herself, was unknown. "Everyone else just seems to talk about boys or goof off…"

All of the moody muttering made Hamuko frown, as her eyebrows furrowed.

"Dangit Rio, don't let that negativity get to you!" She shouted out, making all three of the other swimmers look at her with widened eyes. Hamuko swallowed from all the eyes being set on her now, but soon continued. "You're already one heck of a leader for having so much passion for swimming, so quite beating yourself up, will ya?"

"Hamuko-san…" Rio gave a smile as a soft chuckle emerged from her throat. "Haha, look at me being comforted by the new member."

" 'Ey, relax!" Kaz blurted out, hugging both Rio and Hamuko by the shoulders while grinning ear to ear. "It's called bein' a friend after all."

Both of the girls that were in Kaz's embrace practically jolted in surprise, while Yuko was just laughing away. Once Hamuko turned her head as much as she could to look back at Rio, she saw her smiling happily again.

Such a sight put a grin on Hamuko's face as well.

* * *

Hamuko rubbed her eyes as she began to wake up. The school days felt like they were flying by for the teenage girl now, as Golden Week seemed to sneak right up on her. The phrase 'time flies when you're having fun' ran through her head when she thought about some of the previous days, as she saw a pair of amicable faces last week. Said faces were an elderly couple that ran the quaint little bookstore near Hagekure Ramen, who instantly fell in love with her once they found out she was a Gekkoukan student, and saw the persimmon tree that grew in the school's courtyard. While Kitamura Bunkichi's praise made Hamuko as red as a beet, she certainly enjoyed their company, since they reminded her of her grandparents.

A couple knocks coming from her bedroom door brought the pink-haired girl back to reality, and made her stand up and out from bed, even if she was still in her PJs. Opening her door by a creek, she saw Yukari, wearing a pink tank top to go with a pair of navy blue jeans.

"Oh good, you're awake." Yukari said with a smile. "Can you get dressed and come downstairs then?"

"Wait, why?" Hamuko tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't it Golden Week?"

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Senpai wants you to get your butt out of bed at least once for the week." Yukari showed a sly smirk that went along with what she stated, earning her a small slap on the head from the pouting Hamuko, and letting out a laugh from the fellow junior's annoyance. "But for real; Tenshi-san said she wanted to inform us about something on the first floor, so come down when you're ready, okay?"

Hamuko gave a quick nod before closing the door for some privacy, and heading to her closet to put her casual clothes on. After a bit of changing, she came back out of her room wearing a short-sleeved orange shirt over a red-and-white striped spaghetti strap top, while also sporting a cream-colored skirt with white flats.

"Okay, all ready now." Hamuko said as she grinned, making Yukari smile back and suggest that they go downstairs now. The fellow female junior agreed and headed down the stairs, only to do a double take at whom she saw on the first floor.

A middle-aged man adorning a gray suit stood in front of the door, conversing with both Tenshi and Mitsuru. When she and Yukari walked reached the first floor as well, she spotted an eyepatch covering the man's right eye, which seemed to make the glare from his left eye all the more intense.

Hamuko could've sworn she felt her stomach tie into a knot as she saw him, right before a loud yawn and a series of irate mumbles could be heard from the staircase.

"Sorry for the delay Tenshi." Shinjiro said as he and Akihiko walked down the stairs, with Junpei limped his way downstairs with his eyes halfway closed. "Had some trouble getting this lug out of bed." The brunette senior proceeded to jerk his thumb towards the sleepy teenager behind him.

"Hey shuddup!" Junpei answered back as he was rubbing one of his eyes. "How early do you guys wake up on the holidays anywa-a…ah…" Junpei's sentence tapered off into silence upon noticing the grizzled businessman standing by the front door, and was then dragged down by the collar by Akihiko so that he wouldn't just stand on the stairs wide-eyed.

"Heh, I see that you've assembled quite the group Tenshi." The businessman let out a low chuckle upon witnessing Junpei's reaction, along with a tight-lipped grin.

Tenshi laughed a bit herself, and then turned back to all of the teenagers that gathered around her. "Everyone, this is my husband Takeharu." She said. "He'll be staying here for Golden Week so that he can be with Mitsuru here for Children's Day."

Mitsuru seemed to look away at the mention of her, along with a sudden blush coming into view on her face.

"Mirin, don't tell me you're getting embarrassed." Takeharu responded with a smile, and gently placed a hand atop her head and ruffled her hair.

"Father, please…" Mitsuru uttered as she batted her father's arm off, pouting a bit as the other members of S.E.E.S. just started laughing. That included Hamuko, who noticed that the knot in her stomach was gone.

It didn't take too long into Golden Week for the juniors to lighten up around Takeharu, especially when they discovered that he and Kimiko have been acquaintances for several years by now. In fact, according to her, it was their meeting that officially started S.E.E.S., but Kimiko claimed that was a story for another time.

It was also the first time that Hamuko saw something of a different side to her redheaded senpai, for she almost always saw Mitsuru by her father's side. Whether it be on the first floor by the couch and coffee table, or the room on the fourth floor where Hamuko was recruited into the team of Persona Users, the pink-haired teen could hear a few bits and pieces of their conversations together. While she didn't stick around long enough to know what the Kirijos were talking about, she did notice that Mitsuru seemed…apologetic quite a few times. With some moments even ending with a light hug from her father.

As if that wasn't enough to confuse her, Children's Day brought in another can of worms into the picture.

It started when Hamuko found herself abruptly woken up by a barrage of violent noises from the first floor. As she got herself up and dressed, the junior's heart began racing at the thought of Shadows attacking beyond the Dark Hour, and wondering how that could've happened.

When she rushed down to the first floor, and encountered both Junpei and Yukari freaking out in the same vain as her, she laid eyes upon Shinjiro crossing wooden blades with another middle-aged man Hamuko hadn't seen before. This time, he sported a dark blue cotton shirt underneath a black leather coat with a fur collar, and a pair of slacks. His shaggy hair was a deep shade of brown like Shinjiro's, and he had a sharp glare that matched the one her senpai had to a tee.

Or at least they would be crossing blades, if the older man even had a bokken as opposed to simply dodging Shinjiro's strikes. With one dodge, the elder man stood to Shinjiro's left, and nailed his elbow right into the brunette senior's side, making him let out a grunt of pain, and cradle his abdomen.

"Heh, you're still slow as ever Shinjiro." The middle-aged man scoffed as he stood back up, smirking as he saw Shinjiro let out a 'tch' as his reply while rubbing his side.

All the while, the juniors by the stairs had all of their mouths hanging wide open, and couldn't be any more confused at the moment. Before long though, all three of them heard a sigh, and turned their heads to see Kimiko walking out of the kitchen with a hand firmly placed on her forehead.

"Sadao, what am I going to do with you and Shinji?" She uttered with something of a groan in her voice. The first response she received was a chuckle from her son.

"Relax Ma." He stated as he stood back up as well. "Me and Pa always do this for the sake of training, remember?"

"Wait…Pa?" Hamuko remarked out of sheer surprise. She looked right back at the middle-aged man Kimiko addressed to as Sadao, and then at Shinjiro. "…That explains the similarities then."

While both Junpei and Yukari let out a simultaneous "What!?" from Hamuko's discovery, Kimiko immediately began laughing.

"Well, that makes the introductions a bit easier now." Kimiko commented as she walked up to the underclassmen, and gave a gesture towards Sadao and Shinjiro to do the same. "This is in fact my husband, Aragaki Sadao." She held out a hand in front of Sadao as he approached the trio, who had a glare in his eyes that made Shinjiro's look meek by comparison.

'Looks like I was right in guessing that Shinjiro-senpai took after his father…' Hamuko thought to herself as she ever so slightly leaned back when Sadao looked right at her.

"Pleasure." He said, sporting a small grin along with a nod of his head. Sadao also chuckled a bit when he saw Hamuko's eyes light up in slight astonishment from his behavior, and gave the girl a small pat on her head of pink hair.

"There, ya see? Sadao's no less of a teddy bear than Shinjiro is." Kimiko said with a smile, even as her spouse and son gave her a quick scowl from her description. "And sorry about their ruckus waking you up again. They always spar whenever they meet as opposed to a simple hello…"

"Oh, no prob Kimiko." Junpei uttered, giving her a reassuring wave of his hand. "It wasn't your fault after a-ah…?" The capped teenager blinked as he caught a glimpse of silver fur from the couch. His quick look of surprise made Sadao turn his head back towards the couch as well, and he smirked at the same sight.

"Heh, the fuzzbutt slept through it again." Sadao commented before walking closer up to the coffee table now, to which everyone else followed. When they all got closer, everyone saw Akihiko sleeping on his stomach on the couch. He was in human form, but with one exception: the large wolf tail that protruded from his back, right above the belt of his pants, and sticking out towards the ceiling before slowly descending back down. Now and again, the tail rose back up a bit, followed by Akihiko apparently licking his lips in his sleep.

The juniors all blinked in surprise at the same time. Even though they all knew that their silver-haired senpai was a wolf demon, they never expected to see a person with an animal tail outside of TV shows and manga.

"Uhh… is this how he usually sleeps?" Yukari asked.

"Whenever he stays up later than Shinji, yeah." Sadao answered before walking closer up to the sleeping senior, and then abruptly placing a hand on his head and ruffling his hair.

"Agh! Hey!" Akihiko spouted out, swatting Sadao's arm away and grumbling as he gradually rose up from the couch. "Alright I'm up… Happy now Dad?" He growled out as he lifted himself off the furniture, standing up straight with his tail hanging low.

"Yes." Sadao stated, smirking all the while.

Akihiko rolled his eyes at his adopted father's response, knowing him all too well. His tail then seemed to disappear, and it was then that he noticed all three of his kouhai standing behind him. "Ah, they woke you guys up too?"

"Uh, yeah." Hamuko said, raising a hand to rub on the back of her head. "We were all pretty stunned at first, but finding out that he was Shinjiro-senpai's dad explained quite a bit."

"Hah! Why doesn't that surprise me?" Akihiko commented with a laugh, which was soon followed by Kimiko's, while both Sadao and Shinjiro just shrugged. Even Junpei and Yukari could be seen trying to restrain their laughter, making Hamuko smile a bit.

"Okay then Shinji…" Kimiko said as she took a hold of Shinjiro's arm. All while her voice sounded sweet, but laced with poison. "Since you gave your underclassmen a rude wake-up, why don't you make them a breakfast to remember?"

Shinjiro groaned, but showed next to no resistance as he was dragged right into the kitchen, to which Sadao let out a chuckle.

"You're just glad that it's him and not you, aren't you Dad?" Akihiko asked with a sly smirk.

"A little, I'm not gonna lie." Sadao replied, looking all too smug in the process before taking a seat on one of the couches. "But hey, even Shinji can easily whip up a feast for six."

"Wait, six?" Junpei asked, sounding rather bewildered as he pointed at himself. "Do you mean…"

"Well, I sure as hell don't see you three rushing out for any family get-togethers." The older man commented with a turn of his head to look back at the three. "And I'm not the kinda guy to leave a bunch of kids on their own for Children's Day."

Hamuko widened her eyes at Sadao's accurate assumption, while Junpei and Yukari looked as though they were riddled with goosebumps.

"Both Ma and Pa used to run an orphanage." Shinjiro commented, sticking his head out of the kitchen. "Old habits die har-Ow!" However, it wasn't long before Kimiko interrupted Shinjiro's sentence with a tug on the ear, dragging him back to the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's at least one reason why they're both friendly with just about any kid they see right away." Akihiko stated with an almost nostalgic grin. "To say that he's proud to be a parent would be one hell of an understatement."

"Damn right." Sadao commented, leaning back in the couch with a smirk spreading on his face.

"Huh…Proud to be a parent…" Junpei muttered to himself, looking down to the floor a bit with neither a smile nor a scowl on his face.

Right before getting his hat smacked off of his head by the former orphanage manager, who was now standing back up in front of the teen.

"Oi, don't mope on a day like this, will ya?" He said before ruffling the buzzcut Junpei had for a hairdo.

Junpei swatted Sadao's hand off of his head, smirking as he did so.

The scene made both Yukari and Hamuko smile again as well, right as a heavenly waft began to fill the first floor. Since Shinjiro had just walked out of the kitchen, still untying his apron, it was easy to assume that breakfast was served.

Every single meal sent the juniors off into the Delicious Dimension, as Junpei phrased it, pleasing both of the chefs in the family. All the while Sadao mostly restrained Akihiko from wolfing down all of the pancakes on the table.

The rest of the day wasn't a bore either, as the Aragaki family was willing to take the teenagers anywhere that they wished to go. Whether they went to the Karaoke place to sing, the Arcade to play games, or even the Shrine just to relax, it was a Children's Day that put everyone in the best of spirits.

When they all got back to the dorm, Hamuko was somewhat surprised to find a small package at the front of the door, labeled for her. When she was all by herself in her room, she opened the package up, and saw a bouquet of roses that were as pink as her hair, with a small card tucked within the flowers.

Taking a hold of the bouquet with one hand, Hamuko pulled the card out with the other, opening it up to be greeted by the all too noticeable handwriting of her Grandfather Satoshi.

"_Nya ha ha! How're things hanging Hamuko? Hopefully you're not reading this while dangling from a thread, or that line would've just been inappropriate._

_Anyway, your Grandma and I are hoping that you're enjoying your time in Iwatodai, and that you'll make some lifelong friends while you're there. Best of luck!_

_-Satoshi_

_P.S. If something goes wrong, call me so I can send a nasty curse to whoever ruined your day~"_

Hamuko groaned a bit to herself, if only because she knew that her grandfather wasn't kidding. Heck, she could even imagine him grinning ear to ear just from talking about cursing someone else.

Once the teen managed to find a container to keep the bouquet in some water, she looked back into the package, finding a bag of cookies, as well as a small figure wrapped up tightly in newspaper with an envelope right next to it.

Even though the bag was sealed shut, Hamuko could already smell the faint scent of her Grandmother Sumi's legendary baking.

Just the smallest whiff of her grandparent's cooking brought a smile of nostalgia to her face, and she tucked the cookies into the drawer of the table by her bed before she pulled out the envelope and opened it to see what it said.

"_Dear Hamuko, _

_Your grandmother and I apologize for not being able to come down and see you for Children's day, but you should know that we're always thinking about you, and I'm sure that your mother and father are doing the same."_

Hamuko felt a bitter feeling drop into her stomach from reading that.

"_Also, make sure to open the gift I sent to you, okay? It should make for an effective good luck charm, and I want you to feel like the luckiest girl in the world._

_With love,_

_-Ryuu."_

After reading that, Hamuko wasted no time opening up the figure that was wrapped up in papers, eventually unveiling a small Pegasus made of pure glass.

The pick-haired girl widened her eyes at such a sight. Without a second thought, she carefully wrapped the figurine in the same newspaper, and gently placed it back into the box, which she stuck into the drawer as well.

She soon took to her bed after changing into her pajamas, falling asleep in only a matter of minutes.

* * *

School was as ordinary as ever after Golden Week came and went, but Hamuko felt a twinge of uneasiness travel through her at the end of it, alongside the warmth emanating from her glowing pendant. Clenching one hand around the pendant as its glow seeped through the cracks of her fingers, the memory of the Hydra fight began to play within her head again, and without a second thought, she headed for only one place now; the Iwatodai Dorm.

Once she was back there, it was already evening, and nobody was in sight, not even Kimiko. Shortly after noticing that, a familiar static buzzed in her ears.

"_**Arisato, come to the Command Room immediately." **_Tenshi's assertive voice stated once the static had ceased. _**"We've already commenced a meeting, and are waiting for you to arrive."**_

"Got it Tenshi-san." Hamuko replied with a nod, and headed for the Command Room. The Dark Hour struck on her way there, and walked in to see everyone else huddled up by the large monitor, while Mitsuru typed away furiously at the keyboard.

"What is it Mitsuru?" Tenshi asked with her voice riddled with worry. Right after she asked that though, her eyes widened as well in a horrific realization. "Wait, don't tell me it's another big one!"

"It is." Mitsuru responded with a frown, and then looked at Shinjiro. "Aragaki, get everyone's weapons. It's another shadow outside of Tartarus, and it's located in the Iwatodai station." She then looked right at all of the juniors with an assertive glare. "You three will head out first. The rest of us meet up with you there."

As Hamuko nodded while seeing Yukari do the same and Junpei raised up his fist with a 'hell yeah!', she clenched the glowing pendant once again. If this was going to be anything like the Hydra attack last month, then it wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

"How did this situation go right from fretting over a Shadow to us chilling with drinks at the side of a train station?" Hamuko questioned before taking a sip of her Cielo Mist, while Junpei was sitting next to her on the front steps of the station, chugging away at his bottle of Ramune.

"Hell if I know." Yukari shrugged. She then looked up at the clouded emerald sky of the Dark Hour, noticing the moon up above, resting up above like as if it was watching over them. "It's a full moon tonight." She soon shuddered a bit, crossing her arms like she felt a cold breeze. "It looks even creepier during the Dark Hour though…"

Soon after Yukari's comment, two noises hit the ears of all the juniors near the train station. The first was the loud hum of a small motor that only came from a vehicle like a motorcycle, while the second was the sound of a canine's nails hitting the asphalt of the road. All three of the S.E.E.S. members raised their heads in both surprise and confusion from those sounds, and in a matter of minutes, Akihiko in his wolf form ran right up to them, with Shinjiro mounted on his back as he carried a containment of everyone's weapons. A white motorcycle drove up to the group immediately afterwards, driven by Mitsuru herself. Such a scene made all of the younger members nearly jump out of their skin, and riddled their faces with startled expressions. All the while, Hamuko swore that she heard Junpei ask out 'When the hell did my life turn into a Studio Ghibli movie?'

"Sorry about the wait." Mitsuru told them as she took off her helmet, while Shinjiro dismounted from the horse-sized wolf with the weapons in tow. "The Shadow appears to be located within one of the monorails in the station."

"Yup." Shinjiro answered as he gave each assigned weapon to his kouhai. "So it should just be a quick walk on the tracks."

"Wait, isn't that kinda dangerous?" Yukari rightfully pointed out once she had her quiver of arrows strapped on, and her bow in hand.

"Don't worry, all equipment become inoperable during the Dark Hour, and that includes the monorails." The crimson-haired senior responded.

"But wasn't that motorbike working just fine a second ago?" Hamuko asked with a single eyebrow rising up. "And the radio back at the dorm…"

"They're specially modified." Mitsuru answered as a smirk spread across her lips. She then looked towards her lupine team member. "And Akihiko? Kimiko specified that she doesn't want you to get injured again." The upperclassman withheld her chuckle at the sight of Akihiko's irritated snort.

"Tell her not to worry." He stated, closing his eyes, and sporting a look of what one could only describe as arrogant confidence. "I won't screw up a second time after all." With that, Akihiko already started treading up the staircase, and into the station, with Shinjiro following him, battle-axe was still slung across his shoulder and all.

The juniors soon scurried off after them, Hamuko especially taking off to be in front of everyone so that she could truly be the effective leader she wanted to be.

The coldness of the metal train tracks almost seeped right through Hamuko's shoes as he walked on them, with the sight of the monorails not too far away. That wasn't the only thing she could see though, for as she and the others were walking right on the bridge, the sight of water that sparkled in the sunlight in the daytime was now a blood red sea, and she could still see Tartarus towering up to the full moon.

"_Can you all hear me?"_ Mitsuru's voice brought Hamuko's attention back to the task at hand, to which she saw that both her and everyone else had reached the train cars.

"O-oh! Loud and clear Senpai." Hamuko replied once the cobwebs were cleared from her head., and took a step closer to the monorail. Upon a second look, the doors were already open, even though the train hadn't come to a stop.

"_Good. The Shadow's reading is definitely coming from that monorail." _Mitsuru stated, sounding even more serious than she did in the last few excursions to Tartarus_. "Stay close, and proceed with caution."_

"Yeah I hear ya Senpai." Junpei answered back, but sounding half-distracted as he did so, already climbing up the railings that led to the monorail door. Both Hamuko and Yukari soon followed, and climbed their way into the monorail.

The interior of the train during the Dark Hour wasn't a whole lot better than the outside world. Not only was it still coated in the same sickly green shade, but just the first car had an array of coffins filled within it.

"These poor guys must've been passengers…" Junpei muttered, causing both of the girls behind him to nod in agreement. It was nearly a split-second later though that a quick yelp emerged from him as he grabbed onto one of the railings to keep himself from falling. When the three looked down to see what he nearly tripped on, they saw a paper scroll with a pink mask on top of it; one side of the paper was the typical white color, while the other was pitch black.

Right as they all noticed it, the scroll began to shake on its own, and even levitate in the air. It then shot right off down the train, vanishing out of sight.

It was also right then and there that all of the open doors on the monorail closed up with a loud shut, making Shinjiro, who was still outside, flinch back and drop back down to the ground with a curse after nearly losing his fingers.

"_Aragaki! What happened!?"_ Mitsuru asked, definitely sounding concerned now.

"Fuck if I know!" Shinjiro spat out in frustration. "All of the train's doors just slammed shut for some reaso-"

Before Shinjiro could even finish his sentence, Akihiko grabbed him by the collar and immediately yanked him to the side, just barely saving him from being skewered by several spears of ice. As the ice dissipated, an entire legion of Shadows, ones that appeared to be made out of a rose-colored mask, a gigantic crown, and tattered black wings levitated in the air swarming the senior and the wolf.

"Shit, they set up an ambush…" Shinjiro growled, just as Akihiko was doing the same, and clenched both of his hands on his axe while his wristwatch glowed.

* * *

"Dammit, they're closed shut!" Junpei yelled as he tried to pry open one of the doors, but to no avail. As soon as he pulled away, a Shadow appeared at the end of the monorail, causing the three juniors to pull out their weapons and set themselves for battle.

However, the Shadow instead took the least expected course of action and began fleeing from the Persona-users, heading down the train.

"Hey, get back here!" Junpei exclaimed, and already began running down the car to go after it, making both Hamuko and Yukari widen their eyes from such a rash move.

"Wait!" Hamuko shouted, taking a grasp of his shoulder. "Junpei don-"

"Shut up!" Junpei shouted as he swatted her hand off of his shoulder, and gave her a glare that was just as sharp as his words. "I can handle things on my own, okay!?" From there, Junpei ran off right down the train, even going into the cars up ahead.

Hamuko felt a sudden chill go through her from seeing Junpei react that way. She wasn't certain whether it came from Jack Frost causing a disruption in the back of her mind or not, but her mind didn't have time to wonder as a sudden barrage of Shadows surrounded her and Yukari. The girl clad in the pink cardigan managed to shoot down the Shadows from behind them, while the Field Leader summoned Eurydice to ignite the Shadows up-front in a Persian blaze, causing them to shrivel up into ash.

"Okay, now let's get Stupei back here!" Yukari exclaimed as she walked up to Hamuko's side. Hamuko nodded in agreement, and the two girls took off into the train cars up ahead. As Hamuko caught a glance of the windows though, a feeling of dread dropped into her stomach as large trails of paper began to envelop the train; paper that looked all too similar to the kind the scroll that Junpei nearly slipped on was made of.

* * *

Once the last Shadow on Shinjiro's side crushed underneath the weight of the skeletal horse Castor rode, he took in a harsh breath as he let his axe hit the tracks. Akihiko was panting right alongside him, as Pollux levitated above him with his broadsword piercing the only enemy remaining to his side, shattering both the pink porcelain mask and the crown atop its head in one swift strike.

Once all of the adversaries were nothing more than piles on goop on the cold metal tracks, both of Personas soon faded away, but as soon as Shinjiro looked back at the train, he held one of his breaths in as his eyes widened right up out of horrific surprise. From as far front as he could see to the very back end, the train was now wrapped with two trails of paper that contained the most bizarre sets of writings that he had seen in his life.

It was right then and there that the train then began to move on its own, already accelerating much too quickly for a normal train.

"Aki!" Shinjiro shouted out to the wolf in a panicked voice, once he registered what was happening. Akihiko immediately nodded to him, and leapt to his side, where Shinjiro lifted himself up onto the large wolf's back, with one hand clenching his thick fur while the other still held onto his battle-axe. The two took right off for the train, feeling the air wiz right past them, and hearing the harsh screech of the metal train wheels speeding up on the tracks. When Shinjiro looked to his right, he saw Hamuko and Yukari racing down the train cars, and heard a sudden static ring in his ear.

"_Everyone, can you hear me?"_ Mitsuru asked in an alarmed tone of voice. Once the crimson-haired navigator heard the responses of both "Loud and clear Senpai!" and "Tch, just barely Mitsuru!", she let out a sigh of partial relief.

"_Alright then, listen." _She said, regaining the strict tone of voice that the juniors knew her for. _"The Shadow has taken control of the train. If it continues to accelerate like this, it'll crash into another train!"_

"What!?" Every S.E.E.S. member, both inside and outside of the train, let out once they heard that.

"_That's why you should head to the front car; I sense a powerful presence within it." _Mitsuru stated._ "In order to stop the train, you have to defeat it!"_

"R-Roger Senpai!" Hamuko answered, unable to keep at least one anxious stutter from slipping out, and the girls continued running through the train in the hopes of catching up to their impulsive teammate. Eurydice burned away any of the crowned shadows with the pink masks, while Yukari invoked Io to blow away the cross shaped Shadows holding scales of fire and ice with a powerful Garu.

From the outside of the speeding train, Akihiko began running even faster to reach the front car, but Shinjiro scowled as he saw that train was speeding up. A thick black liquid began to ooze from the tracks as well, to which an array of hands soon emerged from, with several blue porcelain masks coming into view.

"Dammit, get the hell out of our way!" Shinjiro yelled with more anger in his voice than ever before as both Castor and Pollux reappeared above the two. Once they did, both the knight and the horseman leapt right into the new heap of Shadows, lunging their broadsword and spear respectively.

* * *

Hermes flew right throw the walkway of the train, bracing his bladed wings to slice right through a Shadow in the shape of a giant pink glove. After its fingers were cut clean off, filling the car with what appeared to be black blood before all of the squirming ceased, and the Shadows dissolved into muck.

Junpei smirked to himself as he witnessed that, while another Shadow materialized right behind him, sporting the same giant crown and rose-colored mask as the ones that appeared before it. However, its chance for a sneak attack was short-lived, for Hermes conjured a ball of azure fire, which then shot from his palm. The flames split apart once they reached Junpei, but struck the Shadow dead-on, causing it to scream in pain as its body was engulfed in the blaze.

"Haha… I knew that I could wreck shit like the senpai can…!" Junpei said to himself as a dark chuckle emerged from his throat. Once Hermes faded away, he bolted down the monorail. When a Shadow in the form of a Cross stood in his path, he tightened his grip on the handle of his sword, and swung it right across the Shadow like a baseball bat, causing the mask to shatter like glass, and the rest of its body to dissolve away like all the others.

The capped junior continued further down the train, fighting off more shadows with relative ease. Be it slashing them apart with his sword, or burning them alive with Hermes' Agi skill, Junpei felt a rush of adrenaline course through his veins. For the first time since joining S.E.E.S., he actually felt a sense of confidence well up within him, rather than the typical bitterness that tightened his chest whenever he saw Shinjiro or Akihiko clear out a room of enemies, or be described as 'incredible' by the rest of the group.

After fighting all the shadows that were in his path, Junpei soon reached the second-to-last car of the train, and immediately felt his body nearly freeze right then and there. The windows started to freeze over, and small snowflakes also floated in the air, coming from the door that led to the next car. But perhaps the most shocking thing of all was the serpentine body from outside the train. It could only be seen outside the windows, coiling the car tightly enough to squeeze the tough metal, and if the small, constant creaks were any indication, its grip was slowly growing tighter with every passing second.

Junpei swallowed as felt an icy sting on his palms, and soon sprinted through the train car to reach the final one.

That's where he saw the Shadow responsible for this.

A giant dragon head that broke through the front windows of the train took up at least half of the front car. One half of it was black as night, while the other half was snow white, with the only other color on the dragon being a pink mask that rested atop the dragon's cranium. The beast had four piercing eyes on the sides of its head, as well as a set of triangular fins, and stemming from its snout were two trails of scroll paper that shimmered on their own in the freezing air.

On the other half of the train car, there were several coffins, but they weren't standing upright like the ones in the rest of the train. All of the coffins laid out right on the ground as if in preparation for a funeral, with the top lid ripped right off of the casket, showing nothing inside.

Once Junpei's ears had grown accustomed to the loud hum of the accelerating train as well, he could hear a low crunching noise coming from the dragon in front of him. Its jaws appeared motionless, but a single bead of blood dripped from its chin, and the sound of chewing was soon replaced with a swallow.

The capped junior took a single step back out of sheer instinct, but soon let out a chuckle as he held his sword straight up. With that, he placed his foot back forward again, and then charged right at the gigantic Shadow.

* * *

"Take that!" Hamuko exclaimed as she delivered a swift slice across one Shadow's mask with her nagitana, with Pixie floating right above her head to heal Yukari's injuries as she fended off more of the flying Shadows with her arrows.

"_Hurry! There are only a few more minutes left until collision!"_ Mitsuru outright shouted through the team members' ears.

"We know Senpai!" Yukari responded right back, sounding just as stressed as the upperclassman did. That didn't slow her down though, as both her and Hamuko sprinted down the monorails as quickly as their legs could take them. As they both got closer, the Field Leader felt like air around them was dropping in degrees by the second, sending a frigid feeling that traveled down her back.

* * *

As the dragon lifted its head in a menacing posture, the scrolls attached to its front launched out at the S.E.E.S. member, with ridges so sharp, they even glistened in the dim light.

Junpei held his sword up in the nick of time to block the razor sharp scrolls, but soon let out a shout of pain as small shards of ice stabbed him right in the abdomen, causing him to fall right over. While he let out a curse and stood up, trying his best to ignore the sharp pain coursing through his torso from the bloody fragments, he saw that more of the smaller winged Shadows casting spells were conjured right next to the dragon, floating right where his blind spot was.

Junpei gritted his teeth with a growl, and instantly summoned Hermes in a flash of blue light. Once the armored figure appeared, he lifted his wings to send a fiery blaze across the train car, burning up the simple mooks in next to no time. Hermes then targeted the fire right at the Dragon, but the flames only caught on to its paper scrolls before the Shadow used an ice spell of its own, and skewered Hermes in one strike, causing him to vanish in a stream of broken blue glass.

Junpei let out a harsh scream, feeling the synchronized pain of his Persona, and clutched his chest with one hand. But as his eyes were squinting in pain, he could see that the Dragon was trying to shake off the fire on its scrolls, leaving the pink mask on its head wide open.

Junpei's grip on the hilt of his sword tightened once he saw that.

* * *

Every pant that left Hamuko's mouth became harsher than the last as she ran through the train, feeling like her legs would fall over and turn into jelly at any moment. The amount of Shadows seemed to decrease as her and Yukari kept progressing, but the various screeches and snarls from the Wild Card's various Personae made her aware that it only meant an even larger threat was nearby.

A threat that Hamuko finally saw for herself once she looked forward from a near-frozen train car, witnessing the giant dragon head breaking its way in through the front window, and Junpei charging right into it with only his blade.

"Junpei!" Hamuko called out in order to stop him, but only saw her words fall on deaf ears.

Junpei ran right up to the Dragon, swinging his broadsword to pierce right through the mask. It was then that the serpentine Shadow's head seemed to split down the center, where a giant forked tongue shot out and wrapped up the teenager into a suffocating grip, making his sword drop right down to the ground with a metal clang. The only thing in Junpei's line of sight at that point was the enormous mouth that opened up sideways right in front of him, filled with several rows of gargantuan teeth with the sharpest edges, and leading to a wet gullet where one would never see the light of another day after falling in.

In that one fraction of a second, Junpei felt his heart almost stop, his blood turn to ice, and the rest of his body go completely numb. Staring down the dragon's throat, he now knew that only one solitary thing awaited him.

Death.

"NO!" Hamuko screamed the word out of her as she saw what was about to happen, and in a burst of blue light, a feral creature with a lion for a body, a snake for a tail, and a goat's head sticking out of its side. In one leap, the Chimera landed right in front of the immobilized Junpei and dug its fangs right into the large tongue before ripping it off, followed by the goat head launching a burning red Agi skill right into the oversized serpent's mouth to make it screech in even more agony.

Junpei fell back down on his butt as the tongue that coiled around him melted away into goop, and looked back to see both Hamuko and Yukari catching up to him. Hamuko in particular seemed to carry a much fiercer glare in her scarlet eyes, accompanied by the thick snarl Chimera let out.

"Yukari!" Hamuko firmly stated with a look over to the bow-wielding girl. "Heal up Junpei okay? I'll handle the Shadow here!" She then ran right up to where Junpei was, bracing her naginata as her Persona snarled at the Dragon with all three of its heads.

Yukari nodded, and pulled Junpei out of the way by the arm with Io casting a quick Dia to rid to the ice shards embedded in him, as well as making the wounds shrink and cease their bleeding. All the while, Junpei hardly even moved, and looked back at Hamuko as she stood right up to the humongous Shadow.

The serpentine Dragon let out a roar of its own, baring its vertical rows of teeth in the process, and shot its trails of razor sharp scroll paper at the pink-haired girl. But Chimera intervened with a slash of its claws, tearing the scroll into pieces as if it was rice paper. As the Dragon shrieked in response, Hamuko quickly called back Chimera, with a large floating brain and several eyes taking its place.

"Omoinokane!" she called out to the Persona, and the brain now known as Omoinokane fired a jolt of electricity from one of its tentacles, striking the Dragon in the eye.

As the Shadow seemed to have been immobilized by the pain of the Zio skill, Hamuko called Omoinokane back to her in the attempt to switch Personae again. In that brief moment of delay, the Dragon's other unscathed trail of scroll paper struck her right in the leg, not just leaving a harsh cut on her skin that immediately dripped of crimson, but also made Hamuko lose her balance and fall down to her knee. As she gritted her teeth and let out a hiss while holding her injured leg, the Dragon cast a Bufu spell to create an especially large spear of ice, and launched it right at her.

Right as Hamuko winced out of instinct, a pillar of wind flared up around her, shattering the ice immediately. Shortly after, an arrow hit the gigantic Shadow right in the left eye, leaving it stunned and screeching in pain.

"Hamuko! You okay?" Yukari asked out as she ran up to Hamuko's side in the Dragon's brief paralysis, lifting her back up to her feet and having Io cast a soft green light over the Field Leader to heal her injuries.

Hamuko nodded back with a small smile, and regained her posture before the Dragon recovered from the arrow strike. That was when Hamuko conjured Eurydice to blast a flurry of pink fire right in the Dragon's face. As the beast flailed its head about from the flames, the mask on its head came into view, and Eurydice unhitched her lyre just like she did in the fight against the Hydra.

Once the Dragon's flailing slowed down, Eurydice slammed her lyre right on the porcelain mask on its skull, shattering it. Upon which the Dragon let out one last wail before its entire body dissolved into the night, and only leaving behind the damage it already caused to the train.

Hamuko almost sighed in relief until she realized what was happening; the train wasn't slowing down.

* * *

"The' fuck? Why're they still moving!?" Shinjiro shouted out while still atop Akihiko, witnessing that the Shadow had disappeared, but the train was still speeding.

Akihiko snarled in-between his pants; running after the train like this was sapping away his stamina, but he couldn't come to a stop when his underclassmen were about to die. A second later though, his ears seemed to perk up with an idea, and as the wristwatch on his foreleg glowed, Pollux appeared right in front of the monorail and took a hold of it by the front. The impact of the knight trying to stop the vehicle made some of the back cars lift up and become derailed as a result, but the train did start to slow down.

Shinjiro's eyes shot wide open when he saw what Akihiko was doing, and immediately invoked Castor, having the horseman hold back the train with his two hands while his mount used its head to do the same. The brunet senior held a hand over his side, feeling the force of the train all over his body through his Persona, and wondering how the hell Akihiko was still running at this rate.

* * *

"Wh-what the hell!?" Hamuko stuttered out, noticing the knight and horseman taking a hold of the front of the train. She knew by now that they were both of the senpais' Personae, so it didn't take long for her to figure out that they must be trying to stop the train, but it was only slowing it down.

Hamuko knew that her and the rest of the gang were running out of time, so she immediately placed a hand on one of the handles that were on the front controls of the train. She quickly slammed the handle down, and the entire train began decelerating, moving slower and slower until it finally came to a halt.

One the young girl was sure that the train wasn't moving so much as an inch an hour, she fell right to her knees, and let out one of biggest sigh in her life.

* * *

Outside, Shinjiro lifted his hand from his side, noticing that the pain being transferred over from his Persona had vanished. With a few blinks, his eyes widened up at the sight of the train at a standstill now.

"They…they did it…" Shinjiro commented with a wavering breath before he soon fell right on the train tracks, and landed right on his face. Getting back up and cradling his nose, he noticed that Akihiko had outright collapsed from where he was standing, panting like he was half dead.

Shinjiro couldn't blame his adopted brother, knowing how much he had to run, not even counting the impact of the train he must've felt through his Persona. As such, he left the Honshu wolf alone to rest, and ran right up to one of the front doors on the train, mentally sighing in relief to see that he could open it right up.

"Hey! You guys alright?" Shinjiro called into the car as he climbed up into it. Once he was in, the first thing to greet him was the sight of all three teenagers down on the floor, all of whom were panting just hard as Akihiko was.

"Senpai?" The three juniors all asked out at once, only picking up their heads at the most to see their rugged senpai.

"_Oh thank goodness… You're all safe."_ Mitsuru's voice chimed in, taking everyone by surprise. _"Anyway, you did an excellent job tonight, so come on home. I don't detect any more Shadows, and both Mother and I will handle the damage control."_

"G-got it Senpai…" Hamuko uttered, and slowly stood back up on her two feet, which wasn't the easiest task in the world with how her knees began to tremble just a bit.

"…Wait, how did you know which one was the brake Hamu-tan?" Junpei asked, using the wall to help stand back up.

"Umm…" Hamuko scratched her head a bit with a single finger, actually failing to find an appropriate answer to Junpei's question, since she pulled the lever out of instinct if anything. "Woman's intuition?"

"Heheh, now there's an answer that I like." Shinjiro commented with a chuckle. It surprised both Hamuko and Yukari to hear an answer like that from Shinjiro of all people, but it put a smile on both of their faces nonetheless. "Now get your asses outta here, will ya? I'm not gonna feel secure 'till you three are out of this train."

All the juniors nodded, and headed right for the door to climb out of the train. When they got out, they already saw Akihiko splayed out on the tracks in human form, with Shinjiro lifting him right onto his back.

"…Hey, Arisato." The senior said once he was sure Akihiko could stay on his back without slipping off.

Hamuko admittedly was a bit stunned to hear Shinjiro utter her name, even with knowing that he was far from the punk she thought he'd be. "Uh, yeah Senpai?"

"Good job." He smirked as he started walking back. "Aki made a good choice in appointing you as the Leader."

Hamuko couldn't help but blush a bit once she heard the senpai's comment, as well as noticing Yukari's hand patting her shoulder with a friendly smirk. The Field Leader couldn't help but smile back at her friend, and soon looked back at Junpei as well to see if he was all right. Upon which she saw him holding his head down, while drops of sweat were still trickling down his skin from his endeavor with the Dragon.

He didn't have that look of writhing estrangement in his eyes for once, but Hamuko still felt a pang of worry in her chest from seeing Junpei like that.

* * *

_**Tori's notes: ***Anguished screaming because of finals week*_

**_Shark's Notes:_**_ THANK SWEET JESUS MONKEY CHRIST THE FIFTH CHAPTER IS FINISHED_

_*flops*_

_Uuuuuuuuuugh, let's just say... Starwing wasn't the only one who had to slug through finals in the time between chapters. Not helped by struggling through inspiration, pacing, keeping the word count consistent as the meat of the Chapter was the Priestess fight, etc._

_Regardless though, I'm at least somewhat satisfied with how the Arcana Shadow fight went, and what it'll soon entail for the characters (Especially Junpei)_

_Starwing gets the leads again, so hopefully she can slow the pacing down a bit and provide some more of her glorious shenanigans and development, so look forward to that!_


End file.
